Me, my husband and our thirteen kids!
by WearCapeFLY
Summary: Follow Troy and Gabriella and their battle to look after their thirteen children, sustain a healthy teaching job and stay in touch with the gang as they grow older and see their own children grow. TxG CxT SxZ JxK RxOC MxOC
1. Christmas

**Bolton Family**

Troy Alexander Bolton- 39: October 10th 1991

Gabriella 'Gabi, Gabs or Brie' Carmen Bolton- 38: April 27th 1992

Antonio 'Toni' James Bolton- 17: April 15th 2012

Sarah Anne-Marie Bolton- 15: September 11th 1214

Sebastian 'Seb' Steven Bolton- 12: February 24th 2017

Rodrigo 'Rod or Rory' Elliot Bolton- 12: February 24th 2017

Erin Callie Bolton- 9: December 6th 2020

Lily Robyn Bolton- 7: August 23rd 2022

Jonathon 'Jonny or John' Michael Bolton- 6: October 3rd 2023

Charli Anthony Bolton- 4: April 15th 2025

Matthew 'Matt or Matty' Richard Bolton- 3: November 1st 2026

Harry Philip Bolton- 3: November 1st 2026

**Danforth family**

Taylor Jennifer Danforth- 38: November 26th 1991

Chad Samuel Danforth- 38: January 10th 1992

Nikita 'Niki , Nik, Kit or Kitty' Emily Danforth- 17: July 27th 2012

Tyler 'Ty' Conrad Danforth- 4: May 2nd 2025

Sophie Paige Danforth- 3 months: September 9th 2029

**Baylor family**

Zeke Warren Baylor- 38: March 8th 1992

Sharpay Hannah Baylor- 38: June 13th 1992

Thomas 'Tom' Kieran Baylor- 18: October 18th 2011

Daniel 'Dan or Dani' Henry Baylor- 15: September 13th 2014

Imogen Cassie Baylor- 13: November 26th 2016

**Evans family**

Ryan Lucas Evans- 38: June 13th 1992

Cameron Perry Evans-38: April 30th 1992

Edward 'Eddie or Ed' Wilson Evans- 17: January 1st 2012

Georgia 'Georgie' Karen Evans- 12: March 20th 2017

**Cross family**

Jason Allen Cross- 38: July 12th 1992

Kelsi Lily Cross- 38: July 14th 1992

Alison 'Ali or Alice' Catrin Cross- 17: June 19th 2012

Jack Liam Cross- 13: September 21st 2016

Lucy Holly Cross- 3: October 7th 2026

Oliver 'Oli' Troy Cross- 6 months: June 8th 2029

**25th December 2029**

If you turn from the so popular park in the middle of south Albuquerque, carry on down the street to number 157 you wouldn't expect the oh so quite house hold to be the HQ of a clever plan, plotted by the youngest of minds. It wasn't any ordinary day though today was Christmas morning. And the cluster of Bolton kids was standing in the doorway of their parent's bedroom. Ten in total stood waiting for the sleeping adults to awake.

The tallest and oldest child stood forward to talk to the youngest of the crowd. He was tall and muscular like the man in the bed; had an olive skin complexion; straight shaggy dark brown hair; dark blue eyes with brown edging and went by the name of Toni Bolton due to the disliking of his full name Antonio. "Remember guys no jumping on mom, just dad okay?" He warned, only to receive nods of acknowledgement from only four of the five siblings in front of him.

"Why?" This confused young boy had 9 pairs of eyes staring at him. "What? I didn't break it." These words made the others laugh softly, not wanting to wake the sleeping others.

Toni bent down to his brother's level. If you saw these two you could tell they were related. Despite the dramatic age, of 13 years, and height difference little 4-year-old Charli was a splitting image of his older brother. "We're not blaming you for anything Lee," he explained, using his nickname, "It's just that if you jump on Mom you might hurt the baby in her tummy, and we don't want that do we?" the violent nodding from the boy was enough to confirm the understanding. "Rod, wake up mom but make sure dad doesn't feel or hear anything."

It did seem that Toni was the brains behind the mischievous plot but the real mastermind was the 9-year-old keeping back unseen in the crowd. Curly dark brown haired; brown eyed Erin Bolton had the 'dark gift' and was the genius in her grade just like her mother was, but she didn't always use her intelligence to the full potential it could reach.

Getting back to the plan, Rodrigo Bolton successfully lead his 6 month pregnant mother, after fooling the other adult with the quick manovering of a pillow, to where all the rest of her offspring were. Twins Rodrigo and Sebastian Bolton- both named after their mother's family members- were mature twelve year olds, looking surprisingly like their father. They both were fairly tall for there age; good athletic bodies; their father's trademark blue eyes; straight raven black hair that, like most the boys in the family, hung over their eyes scruffily and finally an olive skin complexion, the only trait all the Bolton children shared.

"I feel that something cruel is about to happen" Gabriella Bolton said her eyes narrowing at her kids in front of her.

"Oh we are just teaching our father a lesson." Sarah Bolton replied before shouting "GO WAKE DAD UP GUYS" with that 8 children charged to the king sized bed in the room. The other 3 were just laughing as all of the others jumped on the slumbering figure in the bed.

Sarah Bolton was a beautiful 15-year-old girl. 5" 2inches tall; had a healthy, toned body; an olive sin complexion; curly, light brown, shoulder length hair and her mother's brown eyes.

"Aaaaaaaaaaah!" The man jumped up and quickly looked around to see who had woken him up from his peaceful slumber. "You little terrors" he scolded.

"You know they get it from you honey" Gabriella Bolton said to her husband of 18 years. The three standing Boltons made their way over to the bed. Toni and Sarah sat at the foot of the bed, each with one of the three-year-old twins sat on their lap while Gabriella took her place next to her now wide-awake husband.

"Can I just be the first to say?" Toni started "Merry Christmas," Gabriella smiled proudly at her oldest son. He had grown up to be a thoughtful and caring young man and was always looking out for his siblings, helping out with their homework giving that he got his mother's brains. "It's funny to think that this is the last Christmas that I will wake up in this place," It was true, after the school year was finished, Toni and his girlfriend Nikita Danforth (Chad and Taylor's daughter) and his other friends were moving into a shared apartment close to the campus of the UNM with each other. Niki was taking medicine, were as Toni was taking music. The parents didn't mind because they practically lived in each other's houses anyway. "But on the good side you'll have the little one to take my place"

"Nobody will take your place Toni" His mother reassured him.

"Bu- I'll miss ya" Little Benjamin, one of the younger twins, squeaked. The current youngest of the Bolton kids, identical twins Ben and Matt, were a good mix of both of their parents. They had dark brown eyes; dirty blond, long-ish, straight hair; their dad's heart stopping smile and tanned skin.

"We all will" Sarah said "Some more than others" She added, sadness evident in her voice.

"Hey, little sis' I'm only a 20 minute drive or a phone call away." Toni softly spoke before squeezing his little sister into a tight hug.

"Ok before we all start crying everyone better get ready. Because Sharpay will probably kill us if we are late." Troy said breaking up the brotherly sisterly moment that occasionally happened in the household.

"DAD!" 10 people screamed at Mr Bolton. All Gabriella did was give him a deserving smack around the head.

The mahogany door opened to reveal Tom Baylor, the oldest of the gang's children, Sharpay and Zeke's just-turned 18-year-old son. "Morning Tom," Troy said shaking his hand and stepping in the warm house after Gabriella detached herself from her godson.

Toni walked in after all of his brothers and sisters did and turned around to close the door behind him when a pair of hands covered his eyes. "Guess who?" The voice was so gentle and warm.

Deciding to play with the girl behind him he replied "Umm Eddie?"

"Ha ha really funny, two more guesses" The voice replied with a tad of sarcasm.

"Oh I don't know Ali?" he said cheekily.

"Nope, last guess" She was getting annoyed now.

"Well let's see, it must be my irresistible girl Miss Danforth. Am I right?"

"Turn around to find out air head," She spun him around and, before he could look at her, she locked his lips with her own.

"Defiantly…my…gorgeous…girlfriend," He exclaimed between short kisses. As her hands started to fiddle through his dark hair, his made their way to her perfectly toned backside.

"Bolton! Hands! Daughter! Ass! Off! Now!" Taylor said as she walked past to hang people's coats up in the closet near the front door. The couple broke apart, flustered and embarrassed.

"Sorry Taylor,"

"Sorry mom"

"Well, just thank god it wasn't your father who found you," She said. She then gestured to Toni. "Jacket honey," Toni took off his Super dry jacket and handed it over to Taylor who hung it up with the rest of the coats. "You better come in the lounge, Charli's wondering where his favourite 17–year-olds are." Taylor laughed.

The woman and slightly less red teenagers walked into the already overflowing room. "KITTY" Charli ran from whatever he was doing and jumped into the waiting arms. Nikita lifted the boy and rested him on her hip.

"So how's my favourite Bolton boy doing?" She asked. She smirked once Toni realized what she said.

"I'm okay Kitty." He then turned to his older brother "Told you I was her favourite." He teased sticking out his tongue.

"You had a bet on who was my favourite?" She asked.

"It was more of a fight" Toni replied. "That he won," he added in a whisper.

"You lost against a four-year-old?" He nodded "Pathetic"

"Hey, take that back" He defended stepping closer to her.

"Charli why don't you say hi to Tyler?" She asked referring to her younger brother and Charli's best friend.

"Ok see you later Kitty" with that he jumped out of her arms and walked over to Tyler. Toni was now inches away from her. She could feel his hot breath on her neck as he closed the space between them. She was now on tiptoes ready to start another make out session trying to reach her boyfriends height. He bent his head lower to her ear and whispered.

"You really think I'm gonna forgive you that quickly?" Leaving no time for her to answer he started to tickle her. Her soft giggling redirected everyone's attention to the two of them. Sensing the many eyes looking at them they took a look around to see all the eyes of the people on them. "Nothing to see here people," Toni said trying to hide his now scarlet face. Everyone just laughed at the comment and went back to what they were doing.

"Save it for when you're alone guys" The two turned around and there stood the small, but 17-year-old, figure of Ali Cross. Behind her was Ryan and Cameron's adopted son Edward. Dressed in shabby light washed jeans and a white dress shirt he looked scarily like his father (though the shirt was hanging out scruffily).

"Merry Christmas to you to Ali" He said before hugging her tightly.

"Dude you can let go of my girlfriend now," Ed warned him.

"I'm not interested in your girl, got my own right here," he said, stepping behind Niki and snaking his two arms around her slim waist making her back rest on his muscular chest.

"Well taking about couples, we saw Miss Sarah and Mr. Daniel getting rather close in here earlier, makes you feel like something is going on between them," Eddie exclaimed using a dodgy English accent.

"Nothings going on but I can tell you one thing," Tom said suddenly getting into the conversation.

"What?" Toni's over protective big brother side coming on.

"He certainly likes her in that way. Can't shut up about her," he answered and walked off.

"If he tries anything with her I will personally kill him," Toni whispered.

"Hey, she's old enough to make her own decisions now, back off ok babe," Niki said trying to calm her protective boyfriend down.

"No she's not, she's only fifteen…"

"We were that age when we started dating. Babe just let her be," Niki interrupted.

"Yeah I know but it's hard for me, I've always been the one she'd come for help, her shoulder to cry on. I just don't want to see her get hurt," Toni said.

"That's exactly how I felt, when you started dating,"

The two spun around and saw Chad standing there with the new addition to the Danforth's family, 3-month-old Sophie, in his arms. "Huh?" was all they could say.

"When you and Niki started dating that was exactly how I felt, but I learnt to trust you" Chad explained "Anyway Sophie wanted her older sister," Chad said handing the alert baby into her sister's awaiting arms. "By the way, we're opening the presents in 15 minutes"

"Thanks dad," Niki thanked and hugged him before he walked back over to Taylor.

"Can I hold her?" Toni nervously asked.

"Yeah of course," She carefully passed over the infant.

"She's bigger than the last time I saw her," She just nodded "She looks like you," That comment made her head rise to look at him with a smile.

"PRESENT TIME!" Zeke shouted.

Every person in the room gathered around the large Christmas tree in the cleared out Living room. About 6 couches were moved into a large circle leaving the floor for the kids to sit on. Toni and Niki sat next to Ali and Eddie who were in the mitts of a heated making out session. "_Save__it__for__when__you__'__re__alone__guys_" Toni mimicked.

"Ha Ha funny," Ali said once they pulled away, she was then about to smack him.

"Baby in arms, smacking is banned," He defended

"Your lucky this time Bolton" she said

"Oooh I'm so scared Cross," he said back.

"Kids stop fighting" Gabriella shouted. She was sat next to Kelsi who had Jason next to her holding baby Oliver. "He's gorgeous Kels," Gabi gushed over Oliver.

"Thanks Gabs, how's the pregnancy thing going?" She asked still a bit shy over the Oliver comment.

"It's great, because the kids don't bug me all the time and I'm going to get time off work to do nothing all day," Gabriella said.

"Well me and Kels have decided to stop having kids now right?" Jason said and Kelsi nodded.

"That's a shame you two always make cute kids!" Gabi added tickling Oli's feet. "He looks a lot like you Jase. Got your green eyes."

"And hopefully his eyesight," Kelsi continued.

Niki now had her little sister in her arms. She was sat on Toni's lap, leaning against his chest listening to his steady heartbeat whilst stroking Sophie's cheek.

"So let's see who Santa is this year is," everyone groaned. Being Santa included putting on a ridiculous Santa hat and handing out the large amount of presents under the tree. Troy managed to pull muscles in his back from last year where as Chad, the year before, stopped half way and went on 'strike'. It was simple the way you got chosen, everyone over the age of sixteen, minus the pregnant women, would be put on vote whoever got the most votes would have to deal with the task.

By now Niki, Toni and Sophie were drifting off to dreamland. "You tiered?" He whispered softly.

"That's what happens when your room is right next to your 3-month-old sister's, and she didn't sleep all last night. You?" she huffed barely able to keep her eyes open now.

"Let's just say I got the Christmas alarm this morning at 5:30am buy excited 3 and 4-year-olds jumping on me," he yawned. "Goodnight Kit,"

"It's 12:30 pm," She stated.

"Not the point," He whispered. Just as the two got comfortable with Niki's head resting in the crook of her soul mate's neck and his own resting on top of her's.

"This year, for the first time, it's a tie," Sharpay exclaimed "Niki and Toni both have 16 votes each,"

"Fix!" Toni shouted not opening an eye.

"Rules!" Zeke shouted back causing most of the people to laugh. "Get up lazy heads."

"But it's our first year," Niki groaned now wide-awake.

"As I say again," Zeke cleared his throat "Rules!"

"Okay we give in" Toni retorted giving up. The two stood up and handed the baby over to her mother and walked over to Zeke to fetch their hats. Zeke handed Niki an ordinary red and white hat but for Toni he revealed the same hat but with fake white plaited pigtails coming from each side and '_Mrs.__Clause_' written on the brimming. "You never were my favourite Uncle, Zeke!" he scolded. "Okay first present Mrs. Clause will deliver today is…" Toni started deciding just to go along with the joke. "For Master. Jack Cross from the Danforth family. Merry Christmas Jack," Toni exclaimed talking in a high-pitched voice making a fool of himself.

Jack opened the rectangular present. In it sat a khaki converse messenger bag and a glasses case. He flipped open the case to see the new pair of glasses he had wanted for a while. "Thank you so much," he thanked looking up at Chad and Taylor with wide eyes.

"Your dad said you've wanted those glasses for ages so we thought it might be a good idea," Chad replied.

"Okay next delivery…" Niki started.

And so it went on, people opening their presents thanking each other until there was two presents left. The one from the adults to the kids and the other to the adults from the kids.

Tom stood up and cleared his throat "Being the oldest 'kid'" he air quoted "I am honoured to tell you that for our present to the adults this year, we have arranged a East High senior class of '08 reunion tonight at East High school."

"No way," Troy said with wide eyes.

"Yes way, Granddad Jack helped as well," Sarah added.

"Thank you so much guys," Gabriella said gesturing to the older of the kids.

"Wasn't our idea mom," Toni let out "It was Seb, Rod, Imogen, Georgia and Jack's" he said pointing to the group of five early teens.

"Thank you again," Taylor said.

"I haven't been to East in ages man," Ryan exclaimed.

"We work there honey" Rachel said to her husband.

A whole new conversation irrupted. The adults were all talking about their own individual high school experience where as the kids were just staring at them longing for their group present.

"Anyway" Troy bellowed, "These are your presents, everyone has their own but they are all linked. And don't open them until we say so." Troy explained holding an envelope for every one there. He handed them out. "Okay you can open them," They all hungrily opened their envelopes throwing the excess paper on the floor.

"It's a picture of someone," Ali said confused.

"The picture is of a child from a tribe in Malawi in Africa, the child you all sponsor. They are the same age as you and no one has the same person. And the last part is for Tom, Ali, Eddie, Niki and Toni." Then Ryan stood up to take over.

"You five are all flying out this summer to Malawi to meet your sponsor child," He said waiting for their reaction.

"Bloody hell," Toni whispered so only Niki could hear. Then she turned around and engulfed him a warm embrace. Once they let go they joined the others in thanking their parents. "Hey," Toni and Niki were now back with his arms wrapped around her waist from behind. "Follow me," He whispered in her ear. She turned around and nodded, then the two entwined their hands together and walked off to the door.

"Where are you two going?" The turned the heads to see Taylor and Gabriella, who were in deep conversation just seconds ago when they walked past, staring at them.

"Toilet!" Niki snapped quickly.

"Together?" Taylor questioned noticing her daughter's uneasiness.

"No I just forgot something from the car," Toni lied.

"Okay," Gabriella said suspiciously. Then, still with each other's hand in their grasp, Toni lead them out of the room and up the numerous flights of stairs, stopping at the top floor in front of the door to Daniel's room. "I want to show you something," He explained.

"In Dani's bedroom?" she asked with a disgusted look on her beautiful face.

"No but it's necessary," He sighed. When he opened the door a disgusting odour haunted their nostrils.

"God that stinks," Niki murmured, covering her nose.

"Did something die in here?" Toni muttered through his jumper sleeve.

The two trekked their way through dirty laundry; old pizza boxes and god knows what else, when they came to the glass roof opening. Toni unbolted the locks and threw the door open. Once he lifted himself up onto the roof he reached down and pulled up his girlfriend by the waist, resting her petite frame in his awaiting lap. Nuzzling his nose in her neck and started to plant kisses in her black curly afro, inherited from her father. "Look around," he smoothly whispered in her right ear. Turning her head 180 degrees each way she gasped in shock. Here you could see the whole of South Albuquerque, from beyond the park to the large walls of East High School, marking out the Eastern quarter of the city.

"It's beautiful, how did you find this place?" She asked her caramel eyes eagerly starring at him.

"My dad said this is where him and my mom used to hide to get some alone time during sleepovers when Sharpay's parents own the house," he explained.

"Anyway" She exclaimed "I have a final present for you," She said.

"Me too, but you go first" He insisted.

"You know Albuquerque Gospel," she stated, referring to the gospel choir they sang in.

"Yeah" He replied.

"I got a call from Joel a few days ago," now talking about the choir's musical director, "We've been invited to go on tour in June, for two weeks, all around Britain. It's a road tour." She laughed as his eyes widened all of a sudden.

"A whole two weeks doing something I love, with my girlfriend in a country I've wanted to go since I can remember," He was pretending to think "How could I say no," he grinned cheekily, leaning down for the kiss he got moments later. Pulling away Niki giggled at Toni's disappointed expression.

"What about my present?" she asked sweetly.

Patting down his jean pockets and finally finding the cube object he locked her brown orbs with his blue.

"Merry Christmas, Kitty," he says before opening the box holding two white gold rings. No gems or stones crowded the band just the silver colour and the branded writing that read 'I love you…'

"Always and forever," she finished.

"Niki will you take this ring as a promise that you will marry me after high school is over. And wear it till it is replaced with a proper engagement ring?"

Her eyes were now swimming with tears. "Only if you promise," she said scared at the response she might get.

"I promise," he said sincerely "Always…"

"And forever" she finished again. With that they both picked up the others rings and placed them on the others right ring finger. "They're beautiful were did you buy them?"

"Well I didn't exactly buy them but it did cost money," He said running a hand through his dark brown hair.

"Where they from then?" She asked curious as to why her boyfriend was so secretive about telling her.

"Well first of all our parents knew I was going to do this but I needed something off them to do it," He explained carefully "I got all 4 of our parents promise rings. So your ring is your mom and your dad's old promised rings melted into 1. It's the same with my ring and my parents,"

"It's beautiful," she choked more tears threatening to fall.

"Just like you,"

"You're so cheesy," she laughed.

"No I'm not!" he retaliated.

"Good thing I like cheese then isn't it?" She replied leaning in. The two of them stayed there slowly kissing not giving a care in to the world. After regaining breath the idea hit them that they had been gone for over 20 minutes and suspicion was inevitable.

Toni's POV 

Once we had escaped the bombsite of a room we started running down the stairs back into the living room. We didn't even take 3 steps until the door slammed shut to reveal both of out moms standing behind it. Mom had one eyebrow cocked where as Taylor had her arms crossed and her foot tapping. They had caught us.

" Just getting something from the car?" mom's eyes were gazing from me to Niki she always did that.

"Going to the toilet," Taylor was doing the same as mom. Together they were scary. I tightened my arm around Niki's shoulders

"Uh yeah" I mumbled before we spun around and ran into the crowd of people hoping they would lose us. I kind of felt bad, because I knew mom couldn't run after us and for taking advantage of her being pregnant. I turned around and started to walk over to where Charli and Tyler were playing when a hand was placed on my shoulder. I looked at Niki beside me and saw someone doing the same to her. In perfect sync we both turned around to be confronted with our dads. They were also looking for us.

"Uh, hey dad what's up?" I now realise how stupid and guilty that sounded.

"What's up? Antonio James Bolton!" He used the full name he's mad, "Where have you been the past 20 minutes? Your mom's been worried sick about you and you should know by now that stress is the last thing she needs right now," I hate this, he can always find a way to make me feel bad.

"I know I'm sorry dad but I just needed to tell Kitty something important," That was true.

"And I had some news for Toni," Niki stood closer to me and grabbed my hand, squeezing it 3 times, our signal for I love you. At least I wasn't alone. But I couldn't help noticing the drastic change of colour of Chad's face. "I'm not pregnant dad!" We all laughed as we witnessed his colour go back to its natural shade, but I knew that we were still in trouble.

"So you were together?" The moms had caught on to what happened.

"Yeah,"

"Ok, but next time tell us" We nodded and walked into the kitchen.

Niki's POV

Once we were inside the kitchen, I saw Sarah and Sharpay talking whilst Zeke was slaving over the stove making Christmas lunch. Toni and I's presence was noticed when we both took a pew on the counter, only to be shooed off with a hot wooden spoon. Sarah was then asked to help Dani with handing out drinks and I swore I saw her cheeks get pinker whilst she walked out. Leaving me with my boyfriend and godparents. It took a seat next to Toni and joined in on the conversation the two were having.

Just after Toni received a deserving smack around the head from Sharpay, for a comment made on Miss Darbus our music teacher who had been at East since our parents were there. God she must be old. Ali stuck her head through the door. "You guys have to see this," She said to Toni and I. We both stood up and followed Ali out of the kitchen and living room to the hallway at the front of the house. The sight in front of me was so cute. But I saw Toni tense up next to me. Sensing that he would try to stop the scene in front of us, I stood facing him and wrapped my arms around his torso hoping he would relax. Feeling a lot easier once I felt his muscles relax he smiled widely and mirrored my actions.

"She's growing up," he whispered in my ear. But because of the silence of the echoing hall, his words were projected causing the two people a few meters away to pull apart with flushed faces as they realised they weren't alone. As Sarah's red face rose to look up at her brother, she caught my eyes on the way and I gave her a reassuring smile. Then I looked up at my boyfriend, though I knew he still felt he was losing his little sister inside, I was proud of him. He had finally let someone else look after his little sister. He was finally realising that she wouldn't stay his baby sister forever.

As the siblings' eyes met I saw Toni nod gently and smile wider than he already was. He then turned to the boy that was stood next to Sarah. He was still a little flustered from what had just happened. "Look after her for me," Toni said sternly. He was looking straight into Dani's eyes, waiting for a response.

"I will Toni don't worry I'll never try to hurt her," He said nervously.

"DINNER'S SERVED!" I heard Zeke shout. He was shouting a lot today.

Sarah's POV

I know it's pretty risky to start a relationship with your oldest best friend, but there's something between Dani and I, some type of chemistry I can't explain, but deep down I know this will work. I don't care what happens, but it's going to work.

At this exact moment of time, I'm feeling like a pig because I have just eaten like one. But Zeke does make a mean Christmas dinner. Leaning back in my chair, faintly listening to the familiar story of when Sharpay hated my mom, being told to the younger children here, I realized that where I am now is where I am happiest. With my brothers and sisters, my mom, my dad and my family.

I glanced over to where my parents were sat to find them standing up and grabbing the attention of everyone in the room.

"Guys, we have some news," my mom started placing one of her hands on her baby bump.

"What's up with the rabbits now?" Chad huffed. He used the nickname for our parents- "The Rabbits"- due to the amount of children they had, including me. But all Chad received was a couple of laughs and a smack around the head.

"We know it's Christmas, but this is important," Dad's face was stone cold and dead serious. "It's about the baby," now I was nervous. My eyes wondered over to Toni, who seemed as shocked as I was.

"We're not having a baby anymore," Mom's face was completely unreadable, but then she broke into a smile. "We're expecting triplets!" She practically shouted.

"Oh no you didn't Bolton!" All the fathers bellowed as they stood, looking ready to just attack my dad. They all then started to charge at dad, Chad and Jason taking his arms and Ryan and Zeke gripping on to his legs. "Ready for the plunge Bolton?" Chad asked rhetorically, not like the culprits answer would matter.

"FELLOW BOLTONS WHERE'S THE SUPPORT?" dad shouted from outside. Every remaining body then raced into the back yard to see dad on the edge of the pool, Ryan gripping on the scruff of his collar.

"You see Mr Troy Alexander Bolton, because your wife is pregnant we have let her off the punishment for giving everyone a heart attack in there, but you," Chad can be quite intimidating at times. "You, Mr Bolton, aren't so fortunate." Chad continued.

"Any last words?" Ryan asked, pushing dad closer to the edge.

"Sorry Zeke," dad sent a sympathetic look at Sharpay, "It's only fair…" But Ryan had already pushed him in the freezing cold water. Once he resurfaced, dad didn't hesitate he just shouted, "SHAR'S PREGNANT!"

Looking over to the fathers, every eye was on either Zeke or Sharpay. Then with just the shake of his head, Chad personally dragged Zeke into the pool, only to be pulled in himself.

I started to feel sorry for my dad, as did Niki and Imogen for their dads, so we decided to be nice little daughters and all held out a hand for our dads.

The next few seconds are still a blur but I can remember a quick gush of air and coldness. As I reached the top of water again I noticed that there were now 6 people in the pool. They had all pulled us in.

No-ones POV

Toni's eyes widened and he turned to look at his mom, who gave him a small nod. With that he took off his black cardigan; blue Lacoste polo shirt; white converse and odd stripy socks, leaving him bare chested and footed with only his baggy dark wash jeans on. "Don't forget your glasses Toni!" Gabi called to her forgetful son. Remembering the oblong glasses perched on his nose, Toni took them off and placed them by the rest of his clothes. Nobody knew where his bad eyesight came from, they had offered to buy him contacts, but he simply refused, saying that his glasses made him, him. Toni was just about to dive in when a loud congratulation rang through the garden.

"You're pregnant again?" Gabi gushed at one of her best friends.

"3 months and counting!" Sharpay exclaimed gleefully.

"Thanks for telling us!" Daniel said a bit sadly.

"We were going to guys, just not today," Zeke rushed as well as trying to tread water at the same time.

Then a splash was heard as Toni expertly dived into the pool, grabbing everyone's attention. He resurfaced next to his now soaking girlfriend.

"You're so crazy, why would you want to wilfully dive in this, this time of year?" Niki asked a smile on her face.

"When your swim captain, there's never a swimming season!" he exclaimed flicking his hair out of his eyes.

**2 hours later**

Now, both out of the Baylor's pool, Toni and Niki were curled up together under a huge beach towel. After the whole shenanigan of the throwing in fathers, people gradually started to ease off and a Christmas pool party was formed. But now it was getting dark and everybody started to get out and take cover inside. But Toni, Niki, Ed, Ali, Tom, Sarah and Dan were still outdoors enjoying the pool. "Can you believe it?" Ali said quietly to Toni and Niki "We get to go to Africa all on our own this summer! And to England! How better can summer get?" She was clearly excited.

"There's been a lot of surprises for me today!" Toni laughed "I've just found out that: I'm going to have 3 new siblings- not the 1 I was expecting-; I'm travelling to England in July on a road tour and Africa in the summer and I have just locked up my entire future," he said, whilst wrapping his arms around Niki under the towel.

"Me too," Tom started "Look what I got in the mail this morning," he stated handing over a piece of paper to the rest of the group.

Toni grabbed his glasses and put them on and then started to read. "You got in?" Niki asked.

Tom nodded "You are looking at the new under 21's USA Soccer Team's Left Winger!"

"What about school?" Toni queried.

"Well I've been chosen for the next 3 matches and the world cup squad, so I'm travelling down to LA for training next week. But I won't be back until February, so I'm finishing my finals with a tutor. So I'll be back for graduation and prom," he explained.

"If he can get a date!" Eddie added smugly, Tom just pushed him back in the pool.

"Now that he plays international soccer, maybe he'll have the balls to ask Mim to the prom," Toni teased.

"Yeah, how many times do we have say, she likes you back?" Niki complained.

"Because if I do ask her and she says no, then I would've just built up my hopes for nothing," Tom sighed.

"That's the point, she won't say no," Ali said annoyance clear in her tone.

"Prove it!" Tom challenged. The girls just huffed, knowing that they would never win, they were both too arrogant.

"Anyway, let's just treasure this alone time now, coz in a few hours we'll be baby sitting 15 other children," Dan complained.

"Well the 12 to 13 year olds won't be a hassle; they'll do something between the 5 of them. It's the younger ones that are going to be a pain!" Sarah said.

"The trick is to do something like a game of tag, to tire them out, then sit them in front of a movie. They'll fall asleep in no time," Toni explained carefully "I've had experience,"

"Yeah, but I heard the adults saying something about doing it at our house because there's more room," Sarah added.

"Ed, dude, what are you doing?" Toni asked. Ed was sat in the meditation position with his eyes closed.

"Treasuring the alone time," he said calmly not moving a muscle.

"Anyway, ignoring the fact that Buddha has come to join us, what we gonna do about feeding them?" Tom asked.

"Take out," 6 people answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Okay, okay no need to shout," Tom stated.

They were about to retaliate when a loud voice rang through the garden. "Kids, can you give us a hand with drying up the little ones, inside?" Sharpay practically shouted.

"Sure," Ali shouted back "Come on guys," she said normally. They all got up and started to walk to the house. "Eddie, Eddie?" Ali was back to shouting now. "EDWARD!"

"That did the trick," Dan whispered to Sarah, causing her to giggle.

Ali now had Ed up to his feet and was dragging him to the house.

Once inside the 7 teenagers split up to help sort out the toddlers and younger children. Charli and Niki grabbed towels and made their way over to Charli and Tyler. Ali and Ed grabbed a towel and headed to Ali's 3-year-old sister, Lucy. After changing into new clothes and handing Sarah one of his over sized t-shirts and a hoodie, the new couple walked over to Sarah's little twin brothers Harry and Matt. Leaving Tom with nothing to do. So he walked over to Niki and Toni. "You two need a hand?" he offered.

"Sure, can you dry up Jonny for us he's standing next to my mom and Lily?" Toni said.

Tom's POV

"Sure" I replied. I might as well get used to having a little one around. Personally I thrilled that mom's having another baby. I miss the days when I got to play with Imogen when she was little. But with my friends and I moving to the apartment at the end of the year and with me playing international soccer, I probably won't get to see much of the baby, but I'll try my hardest.

As I walked over to the most unique Bolton child I smiled at how much different he looked from the rest of his brothers and sisters. Jonny looked exactly like his mom. He had: long, very curly, dark brown hair; captivating dark brown eyes and an olive skin complexion. He was even the same size as his mom was at his age, apparently. As I approached him, he turned his head towards me and gave me one of the cutest smiles I have ever seen. He was a nice kid Jonny was. He was very shy and absolutely loved animals and wildlife.

"Hey bud," I said, smiling at the six-year-old.

"Hey Tom," he said, his voice small and quiet.

"How's it going?" I asked as I started to dry his arms and legs.

"I'm okay. How are you?" he asked politely, like I was his teacher or something.

"I'm fine. But you don't have to be so polite with me I'm your mate," I grinned.

"Okay," he answered shyly.

"So are you excited about your new baby brothers or sisters?" I asked trying to get to know Jonny better.

"Yeah, I guess." He answered a bit too normally.

"What's bugging you dude?" I knew there was something wrong.

"George Francis at school says that the middle child in a family is always left out. So when the new babies are born I'll be in the middle. I'll get forgotten." He said sadly.

"Jonny, it doesn't matter if you're the middle child. You will never get forgotten and your mom and dad will still love you," I explained gently. He giggled as I started to dry his hair.

"I want a baby sister," he blurted out of nowhere.

"Really, why's that?" I asked.

"So I can look after her. I like my little brothers, but they're a bit too playful at times. A baby sister would be a bit calmer," he was pretty mature for a six-year-old.

"Hey Tom, is my son behaving himself?" Gabi had now walked over to us. Out of all my aunts, I liked Gabi the best. She's my godmother as well. But it is practically impossible to hate her. As she bent down next to Jonny, I really was shocked at how identical the two looked.

"Nah, he's been fine. Just talking about him wanting a baby sister," I replied as Jonny just blushed.

"Well I'm afraid that the male chromosome is a bit stronger than the female in this family," she laughed. "Your mom told me about the soccer. Well done!" she hugged me as tightly as she could.

"Thanks, but I'm still in a bit of shock about mom being pregnant again," I confessed.

"I think we all are," she smiled at me "But I know that your mom and dad have been trying for another baby since your sister was born. They really want this baby,"

"I never knew that," I really didn't.

"Your mom was very secretive about it," Gabi explained.

"It doesn't matter though, I'm just excited that I'm going to have a baby brother or sister in 6 months," I explained.

"So what else were you two talking about earlier?" Gabi asked.

"Nothing really, just making conversation," Jonny said sweetly.

Niki's POV

We had finished drying off our little brothers and were now sitting on one of the many couches. But unfortunately Ty and Charli wouldn't leave us alone. They were asking us the most random questions in the world, hoping we would know all the answers.

"How are babies made?" Tyler suddenly asked out of nowhere.

Toni and I were totally flabbergasted. We looked at each other awkwardly.

"We'll tell you when you're old enough to understand," Toni said.

"Why not now?" Charli asked.

"Because you need to understand some other stuff before we tell you," I said ruffling Tyler's curly hair. The two boys huffed and crossed their arms over their chests. It was so cute seeing them angry.

"We're not moving until you tell us," Tyler said as Charli nodded his head in agreement.

"What if we make you move?" Toni said winking at me, causing me to blush a little.

"Nothing will force us to move," Charli said stubbornly.

"Hmm really?" Toni said quietly causing the youngsters to look at us "What about this?" Then I suddenly felt two lips on mine. They were Toni's. As we sat there making out we both felt the weight on laps disappear. This was the one thing the two of them couldn't stand. People kissing in front of them. Toni detached his lips from mine and smiled that million-dollar smile at me.

"Who said I was finished?" I questioned before, much to my pleasure, he pulled me back in for another amazing make out session.

"Do you want me to puke my whole Christmas dinner on you?" We pulled back to see five twelve to thirteen year olds staring at the two of us.

"Can't we get some alone time today?" Toni huffed annoyed.

"Yeah," Rory stated "In a room!"

"Hey you maybe making fun of us now but this will be you in a few years," I pointed out to them.

"There's no way that I am letting a boy stick his tongue down my throat," Imogen gagged.

"I'll remember that when you come home with a boy one day when you're older," Tom laughed at his little sister.

"Do you always have to find a way to torture me?" She moaned.

"Yes, you're my little sister, that's what I am supposed to do to you," Tom grinned cheekily.

"Thomas, leave your little sister alone," Sharpay, scolded.

"Ooh busted with the full name," Eddie joked nudging Tom's side.

"Edward leave him alone," Rachel shouted at her son. Everybody laughed at the sudden backfire at Eddie.

**1 hour later**

No one's POV

"Okay children line up, age order," Toni hollered through the house. All the kids were now at the Bolton's house. The adults had left for the reunion, leaving Toni in charge.

The sound of footsteps, heavy and light, rang through the whole home. In no time seventeen children ranging from the ages of 3months to 15 years old, were lined up in front of the five high school seniors. "So we have to sort out sleeping arrangements for tonight, just in case," Toni said. He then pointed to Oli and Sophie who were in their older sister's arms. "The little tots will be sleeping in my room, so us five will be sleeping in the living room," his finger then flew to Dan and Sarah at the front to the queue. "I'm trusting both of you to stay in Sarah's room, but god so help me, if you do anything stupid you won't have me backing you up got it?" The two nodded at the dominant teenager, "Jack you'll be sleeping in Seb and Rod's room okay?" Jack nodded as he high five d the twins. " Georgia, Imogen you'll be sharing a room with Erin," The two girls smiled at the nine-year-old. "Lily you'll be sharing your room with Lucy," he smiled at her apologetically; Lucy wasn't the best of sleepers. "Charli and Tyler will be in Charli's room so the other twins and Jonny can be on their own unless you want to join anyone else?" Toni looked at his shy little brother knowing that he felt left out a lot.

"Jonny can stay in our room if he wants," Seb said, smiling at his little brother.

"Yes please," Jonny accepted.

"Okay, so there's five pizzas in the kitchen, so that's 1 between four people," Niki explained. The five seniors laughed as they witnessed seventeen kids dart to the kitchen.

**The same time at the reunion **

Gabriella looked over shyly at her husband. She never thought she would be as nervous, entering East High, since her first day at the school twenty-two years ago.

Troy looked down and smiled warmly at his nervous wife. He finally knew how she felt that day two decades ago. Even though every one of the adults, except Jason who worked at the elementary school, worked at the place that brought them together, they all were petrified of who would be behind the red doors leading into the gym. But the one person they all were wondering to see was the girl that disappeared completely from their lives.

After graduation Martha just seemed to have vanished. Nobody was told where she went. It was a mystery to them all. It brought back memories of that month of despair and weeping from the loss of their friend.

"Now guys we have to remember she might not even be here," Zeke said tightening his arm around Sharpay's shoulders.

"Yeah, but we can't just give up hope," Taylor smiled.

"Yeah but…" Chad shrugged but was interrupted by a small giggle. The whole group of adults turned around to be confronted with a short woman with chestnut ringlets, who was accompanied by a tall, handsome middle eastern man and a small little girl, hiding behind the tall mans long legs, leaving her features unrecognisable.

"Taylor's right you shouldn't give up hope," the woman smiled weakly. "Hey guys,"

Every woman left their lovers and launched themselves towards their long lost friend, ready to attack her with suffocating bear hugs.

"Daddy," a small very quiet voice squeaked from behind the man's legs. The girls halted inches away from Martha, their moods turning from excitement to confusion.

"Shush sweety, they're not going to hurt you," the tall man comforted, picking up the girl and resting her on his left hip, her head immediately hidden in the crook of his neck.

"Um, guys… this is my husband Raj and our daughter Sunita but everyone calls her Sunny," Raj then stood next Martha gently taking hold of her hand.

"Hello," he greeted his deep thick Middle Eastern accent warming the hearts of the adults. He then turned to the four males of his wife's old, but not forgotten, friends. He started off with Zeke, stretching out his free hand.

"I'm Zeke, I'm the blonde ones husband," That earned him a smack from Sharpay.

"I'm Sharpay, the insensitive man's wife," Raj just laughed and shook Sharpay's hand with a chuckle and a warm smile.

Ryan just crushed Martha in a huge hug, completely lost or words. The dashing man beside him shook Raj's hand and, once Ryan had let go, kissed Martha on the cheek. "Martha right?" Cameron asked. She nodded. "Hi I'm Ryan's husband!"

He then moved on to Jason. "Jason," he introduced, his cheeky smile spreading on his face "Welcome to East High,"

"God you sound like a tour guide," Kelsi teased "I'm Kelsi, the tour guide's unfortunately my husband," Raj let out a laugh. Just as he moved on to Chad and Taylor, Jason turned to Kelsi, finally realising the snide comment.

"Hey my name is Chad and this is…"

"I can introduce myself thanks honey," Taylor turned to the man in front of her "Taylor,"

After a slight chuckle from the banter of the previous couple he then turned to the blue-eyed man and the Latina girl. He absentmindedly stuck out his hand, only for it to be refused by both people. Troy shook his head. "Now where are you guys' manners?" he scolded.

"What?"

"Ladies first? Ever heard of it?" he pointed out as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Hi there Sunny, my name's Troy," The small girl's head lifted from her father's shoulder and a bewildered look spread across her face. But even with the confused expression, the little girl's facial features caused everyone, besides her parents, to gasp. She was absolutely gorgeous. Her head then quickly darted back into her father's chest. Troy's hand dropped and he turned to Martha who had a knowing expression on her face.

"It's okay Troy, she just very shy," Martha said softly as she took hold of the little girl. "It's okay sweety, this is your uncle Troy and Aunty Gabi, and they're not going hurt you,"

Gabriella and Troy smiled warmly at the girl as her head rose once again.

**1 hour later**

After catching up with their other former classmates, the gang sat around a very large table. But there was one thing the girls noticed. Sunny looked nothing like either of her parents. As the girls talked that very same fact lingered in every one of their minds.

"So do you girls have any kids?" Martha asked glancing over at her daughter who was now in her Uncle Troy's lap, giggling softly as he gently attacked her small sides.

"Oh yeah, we all have kids all right," Sharpay muttered.

"What do you mean?" Martha asked confused.

"Well let's just say, East High's cutest couple can't get off each other, as you can already see," Sharpay explained motioning towards Gabi's increasingly large stomach.

"Says the one expecting her forth child," Gabriella scoffed back.

"Honey, you have more than double the amount of kids we all have," Taylor stated, rubbing Gabi's back mockingly.

"I still don't get it?" Martha repeated.

"To be straight to the point, Gabs and Hoops have 10 kids already, with babies 11,12 and 13 on the way," Kelsi smiled, happy for one of her best friends.

"13 kids. Wow," Martha exclaimed, truly stunned.

"Yeah, and Tay and Chad have 3 children; Shar and Zeke have 3 going on 4; Kels and Jase have 4 and finally Ryan and Cam have 2 terrors," Gabriella blurted trying to get the attention off of her.

"Wow, that's great," Martha gleamed.

Gabriella then suddenly felt a light bulb pop in her head. "So how old is Sunny then?"

"Well she's five at the moment, but she'll be 6 in March," Martha smiled softly, now seeing her daughter stifle a yawn as she closed her eyes whilst in Jason's yeti like arms.

"They're good with the little 'ns aren't they?" Kelsi smiled.

"I've never seen her so comfortable with new people before," Martha cooed.

"You know we could send down me and Taylor's eldest kids to come pick her up and take to our place," Gabi offered.

"Are you sure?" Martha asked hesitantly.

"Yeah I'll just call him now," Gabi replied, standing up slowly, walking to the quiet hallway to call her son.

"Do you know why Sunny's so shy?" Kelsi suddenly asked from nowhere.

Martha just sighed loudly and looked up guiltily at her friends. "I knew this was going to come up," she murmured to herself. "Just wait till Gabi's back and I'll tell all of you at once," Martha explained dryly. This made the other girls glance at each other.

Suddenly Gabi's soft melodic voice rang in their ears. "Toni and Niki are on their way, with Jonny as well," She smiled.

"Who are they?" Raj said protectively.

"Toni's our eldest," Troy smiled proudly.

"Niki's our eldest," Chad said.

"And Jonny's our 7th child, who's a little older than Sunny," Gabriella smiled to herself.

"Oh, so how old are the eldest?" Martha gleamed.

"17 going on 18," Taylor explained reassuringly.

A moment or so later, the door to the gym opened and then walked in the tall, handsome figure of Toni; the short, divine body of Niki and the tiny, shy stand of Jonny. As Jonny locked eyes with his mother's he ran straight into her arms smiling. His eyes then caught another pair of brown that was looking at him. Her lips turned upwards as she noticed the boy, his then copying her's instantly. "Mom who's that girl over there?" he whispered, pointing to her.

On the other side of the table Sunny's eyes flew to Jason. "Uncle JJ who's that?" she asked in an excited whispering voice.

"That's Jonny," Jason explained.

"I like his hair," she commented, giggling slightly.

"That's Sunny, Jonny," Gabi said, smiling at her son's expression.

"She's really pretty," he complimented.

"Let's go introduce you to her," Gabi suggested, "Toni, Niki come meet the new member to the club," Gabi hinted.

Sunny smiled as she saw her aunty Gabi walk over with the three new people in tow. She noticed the tall, very strong one and became very nervous and frightened. She hid her face into Jason's chest out of complete fear. But then she felt herself being lifted from her position into the arms of her father.

"It's okay Sunny, he's not going to hurt you, he's our friend," Raj whispered into his daughter's ear. She raised her head to look at the man that frightened her to see him smiling at her. All her fears flew away.

Then the warming voice of her aunt Gabi started to speak. "Raj, Sunny, Martha, this is Toni, Niki and Jonny," She said introducing them one by one. Toni and Niki shook hands with the two new adults where as Jonny and Sunny stood there looking at each other small innocent smiles on their faces.

"Don't worry Martha the kids know how to take care of one and other," Sharpay assured a nervous Martha. Martha took one more look at the two teenagers and nodded.

"Alright but one question. Do you know first aid?" Martha eyed the two 17 year olds.

"Niki could probably pass medical school today," Toni bragged proudly, except Niki who blushed deeply and hid her face in Toni's chest.

"So we heard that we're taking a new member home with us," Niki smiled.

"Yep. Guy's this is Sunny. Sunny this is Jonny, Toni, and Niki," After the introduction from Chad Toni lifted Jonny for a piggyback. Toni held out his hand to the small girl. He smiled his father's heart stopping smile as she shook his hand gently. Niki just smiled at her warmly. But Jonny said nothing, showed nothing, just looked at her in awe.

"Aren't you going to say hello Jonny?" His brother asked.

Snapping out of his trance Jonny just let out a simple, squeaky 'hello'.

"Hey," She replied back, not moving her eyes off of Jonny.

"So Sunny. You ready to go?" Niki asked. Sunny nodded her head and then turned to her father.

"Be good Ray-ray. And remember they're our friends," Rajj reassured his daughter. She nodded then was handed to her mother.

"See you in the morning baby," Martha sighed. Sunny smiled at her mom and gave her a kiss on the cheek. Sunny was then handed into Niki's free arms where she relaxed instantly.

Still with Jonny on his back, Toni kissed his mom's cheek as well. "Have fun momma, see you in the morning," He then turned to Martha. "It's nice to finally meet you aunt Martha," he smiled. "See you everyone," He was replied by a number of similar remarks. The four of them had just turned out of the gym when Toni's head popped around the door. "And remember, don't get too drunk. Because we'll be the ones looking after you!" His cheeky grin appeared and his head vanished once more.

"He called me aunt Martha?" Martha mumbled to herself.

"They all grow up knowing about you," Ryan answered.

"Yeah, it was a great bed time story. The story of how our friend disappeared. But we never knew why. Finish the story Martha," Taylor gave her a small smile to urge her on and tell the end of the story.

As the four children entered the parking lot, they started to walk over to Toni's old battered pick up truck. "Kitty can you sit in the back with these two?" Toni sent her a smile and she immediately melted.

"Of course, come on you two," she said happily. Niki lead the younger two to the back of the truck. She knocked down the back of the hold of the Chevrolet and turned to Jonny. "Hop up little guy," she giggled. Niki gently lifted the six year old by the waist so that he could clamber onto the back of his eldest brothers car. Once Jonny had two feet firmly on the truck, Niki turned to the shy girl next to her. "You ready?" she asked. Sunny nodded her slightly and giggled as the teenager lifted her up to the back of the truck. Checking the two youngsters were safely up, Niki turned around to hoist herself up as well. She was shocked to find a pair of navy eyes on hers. Without saying a word Toni grabbed her hips softly and lifted her body to the back of his truck.

"Wouldn't want you to fall now would we?" he asked rhetorically, sealing the unanswered question with a tender peck on the lips.

As he walked to the driver's door at the head of the vehicle, he ruffled his younger brother's curly hair. Niki was now sat in between Jonny and Sunny, her slender long arms around their frail shoulders in an older sister manner. The engine roared loudly and they soon left the high school parking lot behind them.

After about 10 minutes on the road Niki decided to get to know the little girl next to her a little bit better. "How about we play 20 questions?" Niki asked the two elementary schoolers. They both nodded in agreement and they formed a tiny circle and began the game. "So you two, what's your favourite colour?" Niki started.

"Blue," Jonny said immediately.

"Purple," Sunny replied quietly afterwards.

"Cool I like purple to. Oh and just so you know…" Niki whispered to Niki as Jonny looked out to the passing houses and trees. "…Jonny and all of his brothers and sisters' favourite colour are blue. It just runs in the family. You can ask all them and get the same answer. Ask him!" she said pointing to Toni driving.

"Okay, but what's his name again?" she asked shyly a little embarrassed.

"Toni," she answered.

Sunny then leaned forward and spoke through the open back window as Toni stopped the car at a red light. "Toni?" she queried quietly.

Toni looked into his rear view mirror and smiled at Sunny. "Yep?"

"What's your favourite colour?" she asked.

"Blue," he replied back.

Sunny turned back to Niki, "didn't I tell you?" she laughed.

The door to the 3 storey 13 bedroom house swung open, stepping inside two 17-year-olds and two short children. Sarah, who was just walking out of the kitchen, looked to the door and smiled as she noticed her family in the door way. "Hey guys!" Sarah said loudly, scaring Sunny. She scurried behind Toni's log legs.

"Well it seems that you've met Sunny. She's a new friend of ours. But as you can see she's a little shy," Toni explained. As he did so Jonny moved behind his brothers legs as well. He held his hand out to her and she, slowly but surely, placed her hand in his.

"That's my eldest sister, Sarah. She won't hurt you," he whispered to his new friend softly. She smiled and nodded back at him. Toni then moved to the side abruptly, revealing the two of them holding hands. Sarah looked at Niki and with a smile and raised eyebrows. "Me and Sunny are going to my room. Can you send up Lily for me?" Jonny asked. Toni nodded and with that Sunny and Jonny ran up the stairs.

Jonny turned the handle to the door, still panting from their sudden energy burst. The two stepped into the room and took a seat on the green comforter of the small bed. "So, do you have any other brothers or sisters?" Sunny asked sweetly.

"Uh-huh, Toni's the oldest; then it's Sarah. Next it's my twin brothers Seb and Rory; then Erin, Lily, Me, Charli, Ben, Matt and my mommy's pregnant with three more babies, so that's…" he started to count on his fingers, "Three sisters, seven brothers including me and three more babies. So that's thirteen all together!" he said proudly.

"I would love to have brothers and sisters," Sunny mumbled glumly.

"So how long are you staying for?" He asked, trying to change subject.

"We moved here a couple of days ago," she answered quietly.

"Really because…" There was a knock on the door. The door then slowly creaked open and the visible dark curly hair and bright blue eyes of Lily Bolton stepped into the room. "Lily meet my new friend Sunny. Sunny this is my older sister Lily,"

"So how do you think it's going up there," Niki asked Toni from the kitchen downstairs.

"Well nothing's broken and I can't hear screaming so I guess it's going fine. Don't worry so much, it's bad for you," Toni joked. He wrapped his arms around her waist and planted a soft kiss on Niki's forehead. Toni's nose then trailed down Niki's forehead, the bridge of her nose the finally pressing his against hers in a silent Eskimo kiss. The two then swiftly moved positions so that Niki's back was pressed against the top surface of the island, evidently sandwiching her body in between Toni's and the marble surface. Toni then leaned down; giving his girlfriend a second Eskimo kiss. They both then simultaneously closed their eyes, their heads…

"Guy's we have a small dilemma next door, I think your intimacy can wait," Tom said, popping his head through the door. Toni and Niki broke apart and blushed. They walked out of the kitchen, behind Tom, then into the living room where every child (minus Jonny, Sunny and Lily) was sat on a sofa or chair or sprawled across the floor. Ed, Ali and Tom stood in front of the large flat screen TV, several DVD cases in their hands. The two joined their friends. "Trying to chose a movie but we can't decide so we're having a vote. Nightmare Before Christmas or The Polar Express?" Tom asked impatiently.

"Polar Express, duh!" Niki exclaimed for her favourite movie.

"I'll have to agree with her," Toni said afterwards, earning a bear hug from his girlfriend.

"Thank you, Thank you, Thank you," she squealed.

"Anything for you, baby," Toni whispered in her ear, sending tingles up her spine.

"Please refrain from smooching, there are three-year-olds in the room," Jack exclaimed, covering Lucy's eyes with his hands. The two stepped back from their intimate position, turning scarlet.

"So that's 9 votes for Polar Express and 10 for Nightmare Before Christmas, so I guess its…" Tom started.

"No," Niki whispered, distraught.

"Wait," Toni stepped in, "There's three people upstairs they need to vote too." Niki send her boyfriend a thankful glare, her eyes meeting his. Toni winked cheekily back, and Niki's cheeks flushed a deep red.

"Didn't you hear what I just said?" Jack exclaimed, covering his sister's eyes again.

The vote ended up in favour of The Polar Express, much to Niki's pleasure. All twenty-one children were sat in the Bolton's living room. The two large couches had been pushed against the back wall, and the smallest of the group, including Sunny and Jonny, sat on them to give them a better view. Niki and Ali had put their two youngest siblings to sleep in their travel cots in Toni's room. Toni's back was leant against a couch, his legs spread open. In between his legs sat Niki. Toni's arms wound around her waist, settling on her hips rubbing soft circles around them. Ed was in a similar position to Toni; the difference was that Ali lay next to him. His arm was slung lazily around her shoulder and her head rested against his chest.

Tom sat to the right of Ali and Ed. To say he was jealous would be an understatement. He would kill to hold a girl like that and feel that he had someone to call his. And he and everyone knew that girl was Miriam Adams. The two had met in kindergarten and had instantly become friends. Later that same day he introduced her to his lifetime friends and the six of them became a tightly knit group of friends. Miriam, or Mim to her friends, was a beautiful, small girl. She had light brown hair that had a copper glow in sunlight; green eyes and a moderate skin complexion. To most boys Miriam was a hot girl but to Tom she was a gorgeous, compassionate girl with whom he fell in love with. Tom always envied his younger friends. He wanted what they had, but he knew he was too much of a chicken to stand up to the love of his life and simply ask her out.

Before the film started Ali and Ed handed out an array of blankets and pillows, with the extra comfort most of the younger children's eyes had already drooped and were already asleep to the world.

It was half way through the movie when the baby monitor went off. Niki started to lift herself to her feet when Toni stopped her and kissed her cheek. "Don't worry I'll deal with it," he whispered. When Toni reached his room he heard the soft crying from behind the door. Stepping into the room, he identified the bawling baby and picked up his girlfriend's little sister from the cot. He started to rock the baby in his arms humming the tune he learnt from his mother. Slowly but surely Sophie's cries turned to hiccups and she eventually stopped crying. The problem was that she still had her eyes wide open. Toni bent into the cot to lay her down gently but she wouldn't budge. Her tiny hands had balled parts of his shirt into her fists. As much as he tried to pry her off his shirt she still wouldn't let go. He smiled remembering that this was what Niki always did when they were cuddling and clearly she had passed it onto he sister. Silently giving up, Toni sighed. If she wouldn't let go he was going to have to take her back downstairs with him. Before he walked out the room, Toni checked on Oli before shutting the door quietly behind him.

Niki was surprised to see her boyfriend return with Sophie held tightly in his arms. As he sat down next to her, he leant forward to show Niki, "Care to explain?" he whispered. Niki just giggled and mouthed later back at Toni. As the film went on Sophie's grip on Toni's shirt loosened as she too drifted off to sleep. As he glanced down at the sleeping baby in his arms, he smiled. 'This'll be me in a few months,' he thought. Just at that moment the end credits of the film rolled onto the screen of the TV. Sebastian got up slowly and turned the small lamps in the room on. Rory and Jack followed and bid their goodnights and left the room.

Next up were Sarah and Daniel, hand in hand, the two repeated the other's actions and made their way to Sarah's room in the basement. All the others, beside the five teenagers, were fast asleep a few leaning slightly on each other's shoulders. Firstly, Ed and Tom went to their younger sisters, softly picked their small, light bodies into their arms and carried them to Erin's room. As they did this Toni and Niki headed to his room to put Sophie back to bed.

As Toni leaned over the cot to lay the baby down, she yet again wouldn't let go of his shirt even in her sleep. Niki just laughed and walked over to her struggling boyfriend. "You're going to have to take your shirt off," she whispered quietly. Toni nodded and handed the baby to her sister, but still close enough for her to grab onto his shirt, and slowly slipped out of his shirt, revealing his heavily sculpted chest. Most girls would be drooling at the sight of his upper body but Niki just smirked and eyed him up and down. "Liking the view Miss Danforth?" Toni joked softly, as he lowered the baby; his shirt still clenched in her little hands, into the travel cot, undisturbed.

"I'm not going to lie, yes I was looking at your gorgeous body," she said bashfully.

"Well, lets get the rest of the kids up to bed, then you can look some more."

Finally all the younger children were in bed and the five seniors were laid across the large floor of the living room, wrapped in the numerous blankets. Toni and Niki were cuddled together on the floor; Ed and Ali in a similar position on the long sofa and Tom sat in Troy's big armchair. "The only way to make this any better was if Mim was here," Toni stated truthfully. Everyone nodded and the small talk started again.

**Earlier at the reunion **

Martha took a deep breath to eliminate the butterflies in her stomach, "I'll start from the beginning," she took in another deep breath. Sensing her nervousness, Rajj stood behind his wife and placed his gentle hands on her tense shoulders, "Uh well straight after graduation my dad got promoted. And you know my dad was in the army. So with his new promotion we as a family moved to Iran. We moved so quickly that I didn't have time to tell anyone." Another breathe, "After around five months of living there the army base and our house was stuck under enemy fire. My family and I tried to escape but as we left the gates we came under fire." Martha looked at her friends and then suddenly lifted her T-Shirt to reveal four bullet scars scattered across her stomach and low chest. "My parents and brother were killed, but I came out lucky. I was shot four times. They left us there to die. Then suddenly I woke up in this light room in a hospital. Then in walked this guy right here. Rajj was my doctor and told me what happened to my parents." Martha took in another deep breath then looked up at her friends. The girls all were in silent tears and when the guys weren't comforting their wives, they sent horrified looks at Martha but then sent thankful looks at Rajj. "After I recovered Rajj took me back to his house. There I took online nursing courses, and by the end of the year I was a qualified nurse. That was when Rajj and I started to see each other. And now that I had my nursing degree I started to work in the hospital where Rajj worked. We got married after five years. It was a few years ago when one day we got a call to say that there was a small girl coming in an ambulance. She got caught in between enemy fire. For weeks she was in the ICU, but then she made progress and was transferred to the paediatrics. Once we managed to get information out of her we found out that she was an orphan. And I saw the orphanages around that area and they're nothing to be proud of. Then one day one of the workers came into the hospital shouting. He tried to take the little girl but we wouldn't let him. This happened every day for about a week then one night he tried to get her without knowing but Rajj caught him before they left. So for her safety the two of us adopted and named her Sunny, because her bed in the children's wing was by the window and every morning the sun used to shine on her. Then when she was well enough to fly we brought her back here to live with us." Martha looked up with tears in her eyes. She was then bombarded with numerous hugs.

"God I never knew, I'm so sorry," Ryan said and he stepped forward to hug his dance partner. After many other conversations like the following the group started to settle down again and the normal conversations started to flow once more. Topics ranged from the couples new jobs to delight of Ms Darbus. One conversation brought up ended in the men taking out there wallets and pulling out numerous photos of their families. But the night had to draw to a close, so by 12am the adults decided to head back to the Danforth's to spend the night until morning.

**December 26th 2029 9:00am**

The front door to the Bolton household swung open and in stepped six women. The first one in was Gabriella; she stepped into her home and then shrugged off her winter jacket and hung it on her assigned peg on the wall. Taylor followed closely behind her best friend and hung her own coat on the banister at the bottom of the stairs. Sharpay, Kelsi and Rachel mirrored her actions but one woman was still outside. Martha froze the moment she saw the house. "Your house is huge!" she gaped.

"Well there are twelve nearly fifteen people living here," Gabi laughed. "Come on in and meet everyone."

The six women walked through the quiet house, that was, until they entered the kitchen. Now, there wasn't anyone in the kitchen but the double glass doors leading to the backyard were open letting in the loud hustle of noise coming from the large garden.

In the garden the vast amount of children were all sitting on blankets and old sheets from the shed at the end of the grassland. The children were all dressed in warm winter coats, beating off the bitter chill of that morning. "Okay then girls first, come and get your food." Edward hollered. With that all the girls rose off of their cold bums and walked to the picnic bench where the large amount of food for breakfast was placed. Toni stood behind a humongous metal pot of piping hot porridge and to the one side of him were all the cutlery, plates, bowls and mugs needed and to the other was the many toppings that the kitchen cupboards once possessed. Eddie was in charge of drinks. He was armed with many cartons of apple and orange juice and two metal canisters, behind him, one full of hot cocoa and the other full of tea. And the last person in the newly named 'food line' was Tom. Using extension chords from the kitchen, the boys managed to place the Bolton family's twelve-compartment toaster in the garden as well.

The first girl to the picnic bench was Niki, who evidently was carrying her baby sister. "Two bowls of porridge, please slave," Niki joked. Toni just chuckled, his father's chuckle, and ladled out two bowls of porridge.

"What would you like with thy porridge, oh masterful one?" Toni joked back.

"Honey on the one and a kiss with each," Niki replied bashfully.

"That won't be a problem," Toni smirked. Firstly he squeezed a blob of honey onto one bowl of porridge then leaning over and firstly giving the baby a kiss on the cheek then giving his girlfriend a long meaningful kiss on her lips.

From afar the moms watched the scene unfold in front of them. Rachel, Martha, Kelsi and Sharpay smiled at one and other, where as Taylor and Gabriella put on their mom faces even though they knew they wanted to smile. "Bolton! What did I say about your IPC towards my daughter in public places?" Taylor shouted mockingly.

Toni plastered on his worst fake smile and looked towards Taylor, "Yes Mrs. Danforth," he shouted back. Martha looked weirdly at Taylor; surely this close group of people wasn't that formal.

Picking up on Martha's look Taylor explained. "Toni, Ed and Tom are in my homeroom."

Suddenly their attention was caught by another young mans voice. "You want some? There's more than enough," Tom offered. The six of them looked at each other then nodded to the young adult.

Even by the time the moms reached the front of the line, the pot of porridge was still more than three quarters full. So when Gabriella came up to her porridge-serving son there was one thing she needed to know. "So Antonio, how much of our breakfast supplies do I have to refund?" she asked mockingly.

"None, we bought this stuff this morning, with some of the left over cash from my summer job," he said quickly. He knew his mother hated him using his own money that was meant for college. But surprisingly his mom gave him a smile after her stern glance collapsed.

"I'm proud of you Toni," She stated before leaning over and kissing him on the cheek, after he served her order.

After everyone was served the three boys quickly scraped and poured what ever was left, equally, into three separate bowls and cups and joined their family on the blankets. Toni squeezed between Taylor and Tyler, and then somehow managed to get Niki to sit in between his open legs. Opposite were Ali and Edward caught up in their own little world, wrapped up in each other's arms completely oblivious to everyone and everything else around them. And to the left of them Tom and Martha were talking animatedly to one and other. One of the new things learnt that evening was that Martha new job in New Mexico was the new nurse at East High school, and since after Tom's soccer carrier he would like to study medicine as well as Toni and Niki the four already had a lot in common.

After about ten minutes of talking to the three very likable teenagers, Martha caught something out of the corner of her eye. There, her once quiet, daughter sat next to the little boy she recognized from that night. The look on her face was one she never saw before. For the first time she could finally see that this was where her daughter was meant to grow up. Around a vast amount of close family that they would never had if they didn't move. This is the only place that she could ever feel happy and safe. This was her home. And it would be forever.


	2. Making It Thirteen

**Author's Note: Okay quick change to the story. Numero uno Ryan is gay and married to a bloke. Live with it. Number two I've basically squished all the 'Making Thirteen' Chapters together into one with the last. And I would like to thank all of the three reviewers in particular Bluebell140 who has had supported the currently short series since its shaky beginnings in2009! Alright, done!**

* * *

Toni let out a loud sigh as he gazed over his latest Math coursework in for the following day. Sure he found it easy, but bloody hell did he have a lot of it to do. That's the thing with Toni, he was very bright but he picked up his father's trait of leaving homework to the last minute. It was his double free period and he had only completed around a fifth of the work in a quarter of this time. Of course this had nothing to do with the fact that his long-term girlfriend, Nikita Danforth, was sitting directly beside him. So close that her bare legs were tangled up with his. On the other side of the round table sat two of their closest friends. Ali's similar approach on schoolwork also led her into rushing to finish important coursework in for the following day. Similarly she was also struggling to concentrate due to the closeness between herself and her boyfriend. Trying to redirect his wondering mind, Toni pulled out his IPod from jeans pocket and turned it on to distract him from the beauty sitting next to him.

On the completely opposite side of East High, a very heavily, eighth month pregnant Gabriella stepped, well waddled, into the quiet school. It was study day for the seniors. So whilst freshmen, sophomores and juniors enjoyed the surprisingly warm February day off school, the eldest students took the day to study for upcoming finals and to catch up on new or old coursework. Now Mrs. Bolton knew that, really, she shouldn't have been there considering her current physical state but she was determined to come in to school, that one day of her maternity leave, to help some of her struggling chemistry and psychology students in preparations for their exams. Gabriella was walking through the quiet halls for a few minutes until, when turning a corner, she bumped into two students. She panicked as she felt herself lose her footing and start to fall. Protectively, Gabi shielded her stomach ready for impact, only to feel no floor just two arms preventing her from falling. Opening her eyes she didn't just see one of her favourite seniors, Miriam Adams, looking at her worriedly but also that her one and only Godson, who was the one caught her. "Whoa, Miss B. What you doing here, you're supposed to be on maternity leave," Mim asked.

"I came into help some students in my classes to revise and the such," Gabriella replied with a slight look of guilt on her face.

"You do know uncle Troy will flip if he sees you here right?" Tom questioned.

"Yes, but Mr Bolton's not going to find out is he Thomas?" Gabi retorted. Tom tried to think of a cheeky come back, when suddenly he got a thought. So without another word he sprinted off in the direction of the Study Hall.

Thankfully the iPod trick had worked and Toni was on a role with the maths work he was assigned to over a month ago. That was, though, until the loud banging of a closing door made its way to his ears. Tom Baylor ran towards their table with a rather sly grin plastered on his face. He stopped next to the curious 17 year old and, after retrieving his breath once again, explained the scene just witnessed in the entrance of the school. In the sudden knowledge that his eight month pregnant mother was working in school that day made him stand up swiftly and retraced the steps of his friend who had appeared before him.

After Tom ran off, the two women turned to face each other. "To see what's going through that boy's mind?" Gabriella tutted. With that she carefully shifted her bag strap back around her shoulder, and she and the younger women set off walking down the hall way.

"Who would even dare?" Miriam added, and her chemistry teacher laughed. You see, even though Gabi knew in the back of her mind having favourites was not a good thing to have when teaching, she had to admit Miriam Adams, Nikita Danforth and Ali Cross were here absolute favourite students. True, she also were very close to both Niki and Ali's parents but Mim, in her eyes, was probably the highest achiever in her grade and not only was she smart but she also broadened her horizons even more with the generous amount of extracurricular involvement too. There was only one thing that bothered her though. Why on earth have you not kissed Tom yet, even I know you're flirting! Gabriella thought to herself.

Her thought of mind, though, was disturbed by the squeaking of converse all Stars against the hall floor. Soon she caught a glimpse of her son running down the corridor with his dark brown locks hanging over his glasses. As soon as his eyes caught his mother her sped up slightly and stopped in front of her. Grabbing her bag and slinging a loose arm over her shoulders, Toni turned his mother around and started to escort her back through the door. "No way Toni, I am staying," Gabriella shot sternly at her eldest.  
"Do you want dad to go mental?" Toni retorted back at his mother. Yet, no wit was returned. His mother's eyes froze staring at the never ending corridor stretching before her. "Mom? Mom what's wrong? Mom you're scaring me!" Toni stood in front of his mother and gently shook her.

A searing pain shot through Gabriella's abdominal area and she hunched over in pain. A minute whimper escaped her lips and she fell into her son's arms. Settling her body slowly on the floor Toni kneeled in front of his mother and looked into her eyes. "Toni?" Gabriella whispered. "Don't panic okay?" He nodded slowly. "My water has just broken and..." Never in Gabriella Bolton's life had she seen someone's eyes widen so quickly.

"Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap, oh crap," Toni's curses continued but were muted with a loud crack as Miriam Adams' hand collided with his cheek.

"For goodness sakes, you damn boy," She huffed, but soon calmed as she looked at Gabriella. "Mrs Bolton, we need to get an ambulance and Mr Bolton okay? Just stay calm." Mim explained softly. Turning to Toni she shoved his motionless body toward the gym. "You, be useful and get your dad!"  
Somehow Toni found himself zipping down the hallways of East High. With every sharp corner he took his converse squeaked, and as he came to a halt outside a large red door he took a moment to... well think really. Sighing out the teenager leant down, his forehead coming into contact with the cold surface of the wood. Sigh, Toni placed his rather colossal hands either side of his face in a feeble attempt to stop his heart from racing. Sigh, shutting his eyes tightly the boy softly banging his forehead to the door. Sigh... with the fourth and final sigh Troy Bolton, co-coach and English Literature teacher of East High swung the door open, sending his frozen son tumbling forward. "Toni?" Troy asked surprised. "What the hell?"

"Mom...m...babies..." Toni stumbled over his words with a shaking voice. Oh God I've forgotten how to bloody talk, bugger. Toni thought, kicking himself. Breathing in a long breath to steady his tone, father and son locked worried glances. "Mom's in labour!"

"What!"

"In the hallway."

Meanwhile, in the front hallway, a small penguin huddle of both teachers and students had formed and pushing their ways through it were three determined members of the school faculty. The first, head of the chemistry department and head of the senior grade was first to reach the centre of all the chaos. Motherly instinct kicked in as she immediately recognised the situation, from previous personal experience. The three were now kneeling in front of or besides the school's co-head of pastoral care, head of the biology department and most favourite teacher.

"Where's Troy?" asked the tallest of the three new arrivals. Her question was intended to be answered by the poor writhing women lying on the floor, though she was also having trouble reaching her height due to the smaller, but still similar bulge in her midriff.

"I sent Toni to get him a few minutes ago, should be here any moment now" the young girl answered. By this time more and more staff had barged their way to the front of the crowd and were now ushering students (some worried, other just intrigued) back into classrooms and down hallways leaving just the principal and close friends of Gabriella.  
"He'll be here any second, sweetie. How about we get you into my car?" the smaller of the first appearing women asked and comforted. With a small nod, Gabriella found herself lifted off of the floor with clear struggle from the helpers. When quite suddenly she flew into the well known arms of her husband and son, clearly more able to lift her than the previous people who tried. No words were needed, in a matter of minutes Gabriella and Troy were seated in her small Mini Cooper ready to drive off to the eagerly awaited hospital visit.

Troy turned from his position at the wheel to out of the window to meet the worried glance of his oldest child who, in all honesty, wasn't a child at all. Throwing his son a set of keys Troy looked at his son with an equally as terrified face. "You'll have to do the school round today. There's about thirty dollars in the small ceramic pot by the front door you can order in or cook yourself. Keep the younger ones occupied. We'll call you once it's over. And most important don't worry."

"But dad, this is just what happened when Lil..." Toni started.

"That won't happen again, I promise"

**Toni's POV:**

When parents say they have a lot of children they usually mean four- maybe even three. And in your mind you can conjure up a picture of a nice house and a mini van. What you don't know is that that van you see is very mini compared to our van (or the more appropriately named "bus" by the younger of us). I had the chore of shipping everybody home in this van twice a week when mom and dad had important meetings for the school. But today I was the driver because of more serious circumstances. You see my mother has just gone into labour. A month early. With triplets.

**Troy's POV:**

I'm trying desperately hard to not break my steering wheel, I am gripping it so hard. I think that its a mixture of anxiety, fright and anticipation that is driving me to this state but I mustn't keep my eyes off the road because my wife is about to give birth in the middle of her own mini cooper.  
The Hospital.  
The Hospital.

**Toni's POV:**

The best part of this responsibility is see the youngest of my siblings hop into the van beaming and so eagerly desperate to tell me how their day had gone. The teens, a bit harder!  
But I don't know how, maybe I drive completely differently to Mom or Dad, but today every single pick up was the same. There were no smiles or brief hugs; the moment each one Sarah in front of east high; Seb, Rory and Erin at the middle school all shot me worried glances as they stepped into the four further seats from me. (Jonny had called shot gun this morning during breakfast)  
As each of the elementary schoolers clambered Into the vehicle I found it gradually harder to bottle up the painful tears the I wanted to release but knew I would have to contain for their sake. But that mind set didn't go to plan.

We were possibly half way home from the last pick up point, the elementary school, when Jonny cocked his head to face me, looking at me with eyes the exact shade as mom's, and ever so naively and brokenly asked "Toni, where's mama and dad?". That was when I pulled over to the side walk, hunched over and cried.

**Troy's POV:**

We arrived at Albuquerque General Hospital just after four in the afternoon. The Doctor and midwife met us at Gabriella's bed around half an hour afterwards with grim looks on their faces. This is when I started to cry. This then made my wife to cry too.

I don't particularly remember much about the talk but some words I do. Danger. Mother. Babies. Premature. C-Section. Incubators. 60% Chance survival. In my absolute state of despair my wife took the reins. "Let's do it. I don't care about what will happen to me, as long as the three of them live I don't care!" she said defiantly.

That was over 5 minutes ago now and I was waiting for Gabi to be prepped for the surgery. This is lying out just like Lily. I had promised Toni that all five of us would arrive home unharmed but if something does go wrong I cannot keep that vow. My wife wishes for our children's safety yet when the time does come I am not sure whether I could make that decision so I decided to call my best friend to keep me rational.

**Toni's POV:**

Less than a second after the van jolted to a stop Sarah was beside me grabbing my cell and pressing speed dial number 6, Aunt Taylor.  
"Hey sweetheart, are you okay?" she asks unknowingly.

"Tay, its Sarah. We need some answers now and you are the only one who I know will give them to us."

"Of course, what do you need to know?" she talks calmly and steadily, how? I have no idea. Sarah couldn't think of where to start so Taylor as always takes the leading role. "You guys want to know about your mom right?" Sarah nodded like she was in the room with her. "Well your parents are at the hospital because your mom went into labour earlier on this afternoon. And I'm afraid to say that it's not looking great sweetheart. Troy just called Chad and the doctors aren't happy with the development of the babies, that they are too premature to be born yet but there is nothing that they can do but let your ma give birth to the three babies. I'm so sorry love really." That was one of the very rare times when I had heard Taylor's voice waver. I've been so engrossed with my feelings that I have failed to think about the others. Taylor is mom's best friend I can't even begin to wonder how that feels. Sarah seemed to have the same realisation as me and had fallen into a similar trance.

Surprisingly it was Jonny who picked up the phone next and explained our current situation. That moment really shocked me. Out of everybody I thought it would be Jonny who would be the worst, the most broken. For his connection with mom was so special and unique that I was jealous of it. But no, he, a mere six year old, took care of a family of thirteen in a few simple moments. He took my face in his small hands and looked me directly in the eyes, an action that reminded me of mom. "Toni, I, sorry, we need you to drive us home. Otherwise we'll be stuck here all night and I don't want to miss a thing so once we pick up Harry and Matt from Mrs Parsons we're gonna go to out rooms and pack a back pack with stuff for one night as well as some stuff for mama and dad and the three new babies like their car seats right?" I nodded and turned the key in the ignition.

**Troy's POV:**

The doctors explained that the surgery would have to wait for the operating theatres were all being used for higher priority patients. That comment had me absolutely fuming. I was in some kind of red rage shouting at the doctors and asking them whether one life was more important than the four in the room. That's what got me kicked out until I had "Calmed down". What felt the worst is that when I stormed out of the hospital room I caught a glance at my wife sitting in that bed hopelessly. I tried to go to her but I was physically man handled out of the room by the nurses in there at the time. That's what gave me the slap in the face from the elderly female nurse standing next to me and I started to curse and shout again.  
But that was what slapped the sense into me.

**Toni's POV:**

Matt and Harry were picked up from their day care and the ten of us were just scrambling through the front door when the house phone started to ring noisily. Grabbing the handset from the table by the door I answered to the tired and exasperated voice of Dad. "Hey," he started quietly. "How is everybody? Did the school run go alright? Nothing has happened at school has it?" he blurted.

"Dad what's going on with mom?" you see my father tends to avoid subjects of difficulty. It took him three whole months to have the talk with me after Niki and I got 'intimately serious'. But we needed to know.

"Look your mom has to have a c section but the operating theatres at the hospital are all full at the moment so she could be waiting for hours. I was thinking that you could bring everyone here for mom. I mean this is tough, really tough for her." he said desperately.

"Of course. But dad, do you need anything?"  
"Just you guys." he answered.

**Troy's POV:**

Toni said that he would be about twenty minutes. The hospital staff were going to have a fit when they see them all but those in the maternity clinic know us well enough to greet them with open arms. But more importantly I know that they will calm me and Gabi down sufficiently, that's all we need right now. God if you have told me the day Toni was born that seeing my twelve kids before the birth of our last three would calm me down I would have probably punched you with my anxiety.

Exactly twenty one minutes after Toni and I hung up on the phone, the whole lot of them briskly walked into the hospital's main entrance to greet me at the reception desk. It was Charli and Erin who made it to me first, hugging my waist tightly. Each and every one of them had a backpack on their backs undoubtedly holding paper and crayons and Rubik's cubes and iPods and books and PJs. Toni was the second to last to reach me and he held up a duffle bag to me. I shook my head, how are these ridiculously organised children related to me? "Here's the super star," Toni exclaimed, throwing a nimble arm around Jonny's narrow shoulders. "This is the man of the family today!" he replied to my quizzical glance. I gave my eldest a we-will-talk-about-this-later look and led my family to Gabi's room.

Gabriella's room in the hospital wasn't small but filled with ten kids and a husband there was a crowded sense to it. However the room was dead silent and despite the early evening hour all ten were fast asleep in an array of positions across the room and that was how the Danforth's found them at seven o'clock that evening. The removal of Gabriella had not meant the removal of the bed and so Sarah was stretched out with Harry and Matt either side of her. Perched on the floor with a clump of pillows that were sneakily stolen from a cart that happened to stop in front of the door, Seb and Rory leant against the wall in the middle of Erin Jonny and Charli. And finally Lily was cuddled into her eldest brother's arms on a precariously wobbly hospital chair. Taylor smiled softly to herself and led her own family into the room. She headed straight for the chair where Toni slept. Shaking the young man's shoulder gently she made quick eye contact with her husband and gestured to Sarah on the bed.  
Grumbling slightly, Toni opened is blue eyes and mustered the best smile he could but even Taylor realised it didn't really reach his eyes. "Hey sweetie, we've got some news for you."

* * *

The dull, monotonous ringing would not leave his ears as he desperately stared through the looking glass into the operation theatre. Nobody should ever see a loved one like this Troy thought. Lying on the operation table was his wife of eighteen years. Her dark curls sprawled around her ghostly white face, her once bulging stomach filled with the love that they had made was gone and all that was left was an ugly line of stitches. Some would be devastated to see someone so close to them in this state but after the course of the afternoon all Troy could feel was gratitude.

Guilty thoughts cursed through his veins, but his rational side told him that he had every right to feel the way he was yet he couldn't hinder the fact that it wasn't just one subject of his love in the brink of peril. Behind the frosted glass three more lives were battling and yet they had barely even started their lives. Each encased in a large plastic cube the three new additions to the Bolton clan lay oblivious to the world behind the frosted glass. Breathing in a sigh he noticed the surgeons begin to place an oxygen mask over Gabi's mouth and nose and begin to wheel her out of sight.  
"Dad?" whipping his body away from the glass Troy sent a rushed silent prayer that his children didn't see what he just saw and suppressed a look at his two eldest and his best friend standing behind them. No words were needed as Troy gathered his daughter in his arms and gave Toni a pat to the shoulder. "Taylor said you needed to talk to us. About mom" Toni continued.

Troy nodded sullenly. "I'm hoping Tay told you that all four of them are..." Troy hesitated slightly, how could he put this? "Well, they're safe for now. But I needed you two especially and not because you are the eldest," Troy explained. "During mom's operation there were some minor complications. She's lost a lot of blood and is very weak. The only way to help her is to give her a transfusion."

Toni's head snapped up in realisation. "But mom's blood group is really rare. SHIT!" Toni cried. "Can't we catch a break? First mom has to face the fact that her children might die and now she might die too!"

"Antonio James Bolton, don't you dare even think about that. Mom is not going to die because you two can help her. Sarah, Toni both of you are AB negative, like your mother, and if you are willing to a blood transfusion the doctors have the stuff ready to do so now." Troy stated with a stern stare at his son. Yet again words were deemed unneeded as both nodded their heads almost immediately and were sent down the hall.

Taylor gently stroked her husband's forearm breaking his stare at the cream wall in front of him. Turning his head slightly Chad gave her a small smile and kissed her forehead. It had been over two hours since Toni and Sarah left and the news of Gabriella's slow but definite recovery masked the ever present worry of the other three lives. "We need to use today to blackmail them into babysitting for us," Chad joked tenderly, eliciting a small chuckle from his daughter who was cuddling with the distressed Lily woken up from her brother's absence.

"Since when have Troy and Gabriellaneeded to be blackmailed into looking after us?" she asked quizzically.

"Shush you," her father replied but a soft sniff from the young girl in Niki's arms ended the slight banter. Quietly shushing the girl Niki looked around the room brokenly. She had no idea how they all felt at that moment until she glanced to the door way and locked her eyes with her boyfriend's. Pain and restlessness had settled there and the small smile to greet her was a whisper of the vibrant grin she would usually receive. Silently gesturing to the corridor behind him she received a nod in agreement from her parents and kissed Lily on the forehead before handing her over to Sarah who took her place on the edge of the bed.  
Falling into step of the long strides of Toni their hands instinctively found the others and the silence resumed. Noticing the pace decreasing minutely, Niki dared a glance at her boyfriend. Tear track stretched from his navy blues to the firm jaw bones and his chin. Bringing them to a stop at the window overlooking the car park Niki reached a slim hand into her boyfriend's dishevelled hair tracing the dark circles under his eyes on the way.

"She's so tiny Nik" his voice was hoarse and broken. "But she's beautiful. So beautiful," He murmured.

"Baby, I have no idea what you're on about. Who's beautiful?" But for the third time that day words were no longer needed. Toni began to hurriedly lead Niki towards the infamous frosted glass door. Pausing only to squirt antiseptic gel into their hands, Toni walked over to three clear incubators. Stopping at the two on the left hand side, closest to the door they had entered from, Niki noticed Toni whispering some sort of greeting to whoever occupied the two incubators. After a moment's break the first proper smile Niki had seen grace Toni's features since their absent minded flirting in the library.

"Nikita Danforth I would like you to meet the forever youngest and absolutely beautiful youngest sister of mine, Elinor Bolton" he stated proudly. Walking over to the tall boy Niki braced herself for what she was about to see. Sure she'd seen new born children before, she'd physically been in the delivery room for the birth of her younger sister, but she knew what an incubator meant. Holding her breath she slipped her arm around his and averted her eyes to the baby. Tear immediately pricked her eyes, he was right. She could bet that the little human could fit entirely in the palm of Toni's hand, mind her boyfriend's hands were abnormally tennis racket esque.

Taking a step back, Niki's hip bumped with another incubator. Peering in, she was met with a familiar set of clear blue irises. With a look of fascination the baby boy before her reached up with his pudgy arms in an attempt to touch the glass in the same place her own hand was. "Ah, I see you've met Caleb" Toni chuckled slightly. "Quite the ladies man!" Reaching into the incubator and rubbing the significantly larger baby's stomach affectionately, "She's mine, get your own!"

Another faintly hoarse voice cut through the hushed laughter, soon after another joined in. "I think he already has."

Toni and Niki both looked up at the familiar voice. Stood in the doorway, Gabriella was clad in the simple pyjama bottoms and white T-shirt that Toni had packed for her. Helping her keep upright in her weak state, Troy had an arm around his wife's shoulders and the first glint of a smile haunted his handsome features. "He will not be needing a girlfriend for some time, so please don't put ideas in his head," Gabriella started walking slowly over to her son and meeting her half way Toni enveloped her in a gentle hug.

Awkwardly standing admits the deeply loving family moment, Niki shuffled her feet slightly and looked at the light floor below. So therefore she startled when Troy looped his arm around her waist and squeezed her in a small hug, "Thanks for being here Niki, we really needed you today!" Troy smiled.  
"It's a pleasure, Mr Bolton," the girl replied.  
Troy guffawed at his son's girlfriend, "Since when have I ever been Mr Bolton? You make me feel so old when you say that. Sweetheart, I'm Troy and always have been."

"Come here love," Gabriella gestured to the teenager. Similarly to her son Gabriella wrapped her future daughter in law in a brief but loving embrace. Pulling away slightly and holding Niki at arms length the mother of, now, thirteen smiled gently at the girl before her then turned her head to her son. "So you've told her?" she asked.  
Toni shook his head slightly, "I thought you would like to tell her."

"I'm totally confused," Niki stated honestly.

"Niki, we would be honoured if you would, with my son, be the God parents." Gabriella asked, still holding her at arms length. It was the ultimate position to watch the teenagers facial expression change from confusion to wonder.

"What? But Mrs B. I...I'm...but...really?" the two parents nodded whilst gleaming at the couple.  
"Definitely."

Three Bolton babies sat in that maternity ward. The eldest and stockiest of the three Caleb Joshua Bolton, lay in the incubator closest to the door. He had already inherited his father's charm for females along with his clear pale blue eyes. His mother's genes resided in the tuft of dark brown hair already perched on his head. The middle child of the two Joseph Timothy Bolton wasn't necessarily as chunky as his older brother, it seemed that he was a stretched version of him measuring a good couple of inches longer than his siblings. The most striking quality of the middle born was the uncharacteristically pale shade to his complexion. Similar to his brother the famous Bolton eyes were inherited but the hair covered by his baby cap was significantly lighter, much more like his father's. The two reasonably healthy premmies were given the okay to be released from hospital after three nights in the ward yet they still resided in the same room five days after their birth. The only change was the replacement hospital cots they now lay in.

Never was this room silent. During the daytime visitors came and went. Usually it was just Troy and Gabriella there when visiting hours started in the morning to past the allotted time at night. Yet the room was never silent for even in the early hours of the morning the rhythmic bleeping of a heart monitored continued. Hooked up to the mentioned machinery the youngest and last of the Bolton heirs, only their fourth daughter Elinor Jasmine Bolton, constantly battling. Experiencing what many grown men and women never have. A battle between life and death.

Quintessentially a stereotypical premature child, Troy and Gabriella's daughter was so tiny that you could place her in her father's hand and not cross halfway to his elbow. Yet she fought, like a Bolton would do and despite her still underdeveloped lungs the doctor insisted that she was improving and on the fifth day of her life left the plastic cuboid for the first time and lay in her mother's arms. After a week and a half in hospital the baby girl was given a hesitant okay and ten days after February 23rd Caleb, Joseph and Elinor left Albuquerque General Hospital together.


	3. Scott Anderson

**A.N: Hello, whoever you may be. I wish I had an excuse for my lack of update, but I don't. I am just lazy. Here we meet a new OC. And I may or may not have based him on what I think Kurt and Blaine's child would be like. Don't judge. Stay cool and enjoy**

* * *

Formality rarely had a place in the Bolton's home but there were occasional times when each child would me lined up in age order along their oddly wide entrance hall. The eldest and the tallest of them quickly took a head count to ensure full attendance, only to realise a visible gap between the second oldest boy, Sebastian, and his conniving yet utterly adorable sister, Erin. Clearing his throat to call the missing sibling, Toni was momentarily halted by the door to the kitchen opening and his smartly attired parents stepped through. His father merely looked like he was heading to work in his dark brown slacks, blue dress shirt and navy tie. Gabriella on the other hand was much more of a shock for a multitude of reasons. One being that his mother infrequently had to dress in such a businesslike manner- she even taught in her low cut converse sometime. Plus her time on maternity meant that they were used to seeing her in pyjamas and sweats for the past few months. It may have taken him back slightly but Toni thought his mom looked great in her navy blue dress and he believed that if he told anybody that she had carried triplets not six weeks prior they wouldn't believe him.

"Well doesn't everybody look so uncharacteristically smart" Gabriella gushes, bending down to straighten Charlie's askew tie and then to pat down an unruly curl on top of Jonny's head. Ironically this sentence was the one which the missing child chose to enter to. In his highly preferred holey jeans and grease stained white t-shirt, Rodrigo Bolton's icy blue eyes scanned the scene in front of him then laughed nervously. Holding up the kitchen radio in his left hand and the wireless router in his right, Rory huffed loudly and let a small guilty smile ghost his features.

"Well the radio does fuzz anymore and I fixed the circuit board in the router." His easy going attitude to his undeniable tardiness caused a giggle to escape his little sister's mouth and almost as the flu spreads itself throughout the family in the winter, Lily's infectious laugher was slowly passed on to each other. Even Caleb and Joseph (held in strap on baby carriers attached to the chests of Toni and Sarah respectively) let out noises of delight as the joyous laughter reached its peak. Significantly calmer than the rest of his family Troy gave his son a gentle shove to the staircase and grabbed the radio and the thing-that-makes-the-internet-work from his hands, "We are all very grateful for your engineering prowess but you need to get changed, pronto" nudging him further. Though Troy did not realise, at the time, his tone of voice was unnecessarily firm and judging, so his confusion when Rory scowled at his father and shrugged his hand off of his shoulder was understandable.

Immediately after the first of the heavy footsteps hit the stairs the laughter stopped, dead. The air had suddenly switched back to what it had been for weeks beforehand, they may not have noticed it till then but it was seemingly obvious that something had happened between father and son, and that something was not good. This dramatic realisation of feelings stunned Gabriella more than anybody. Troy told her everything, but he'd obviously left this out of the agenda for their nightly chats in bed before lights out. Not even bothering to show her look of disappointment at her husband, Gabriella rushed off after her clearly upset son. Hearing a defiant sniffle and the slam of his wardrobe door the confused mother took a deep breath and stepped into the bedroom.

It was a tale of two completely different cities. Both brothers had a space saving loft bed yet the difference between the two frames was astonishing. The right had practically every article of clothing known to man strewn across it and along the walls multiple picture frames were full of collages of Sebastian and his 'girl-friends'. Opposite was radically unalike. The frame was not littered with clothes but with homemade inventions. For example there were no wooden steps up to the bunk but a ladder like contraption that could be lowered by a three digit code entered into the key pad. Some may say this was a little over the top but they never had to share a room with a twin brother.

When Gabriella stepped through the threshold she saw her son hunched over his desk scrambling around among the vast array of stuff including rings of wire meticulously labelled and ordered in type of metal core and the small and precisely painted airfix models aligned in order of the real airplane's manufacturing date. Shutting the door quietly behind her, the mother unhooked Rory's favourite tie from his bed knob and sat down on the desk chair of Sebastian's side. The squeak of the aged bolts made her presence known but not acknowledged. Sighing, Gabriella reached from behind to stop her son's fumbling hands. "Turn around," she ordered gently, "Rory, talk to me," no compliance. "Rodrigo Elliot Bolton, look at me. You need to talk to me". The suddenly thought stricken twelve year old turned to face his mother.

Letting out a sob, the young man brokenly locked eyes with his mother, "He just doesn't understand."

"Ssh sweetheart, what doesn't your father understand?"

"ME!" he said forcefully.

"Rodrigo, I wish I could know what you're upset about, I really do. But you can't expect me to help if you don't tell me what's happe..." She was cut off by her son.

"I do all this stuff for everybody in this family and do I ever get a thank you for it? No! It could've been anybody but two weeks ago I handed back the baby monitor to dad and I just blew out at him. I know it wasn't fair on him but I am sick of doing all this stuff and not getting anything in return for it." He took a deep breath in and then continued, "Then, at school on Monday dad saw something and kept bugging me about it that the tension just grew."

Reaching up Gabriella rubbed off a little paint that had found its way to Rory's cheek, "What did dad see?" she asked but Rodrigo was hesitant to answer. Looking down at his now dress shoe clad feet, her son mumbled something incoherent to the floor. Moving her hand to under his chin Gabriella lifted the tween's head so their eyes met.

"Dad saw Zachary, Jamie and Stuart push me around a bit in the hallway at school before try outs for the middle school team." He looked down once again. "What dad doesn't know is that they were calling me names and pushing me and stuff because I let out the biggest secret our grade has ever known, and I was and am still proud of it."

"What was the secret, Rory?" she urged, genuinely interested.

"Please don't judge me, I know I should have told you first and that you really should be first to know but I was provoked and couldn't bottle it anymore and just had to let it out then and..."

"Rory" she stopped him before he choked on his words.

"I'm gay mom" he whispered in the dead silence. The five seconds it took to raise his head for the umpteenth that minute was the longest and more nerve wracking five seconds of him life and before he even registered her reply he felt the soft waves of his mother's hair against his nose.

Squeezing him a tightly as she could Gabriella rubbed her son's back as he let the tears of relief flood down his face. Pulling away slightly, she held her son at arm's length and spoke softly yet reassuringly. "I only have two things to say to you Rod, and that is that I am immensely proud of you for your bravery and courage and secondly I want you to know that even though this has come as a shock to me and will have a similar effect on dad we love you unconditionally but you know what you have to do right?" Rodrigo nodded and started for the door to go and talk to his father only to be stopped before he turned the handle. "Nu-huh that can wait until we're back this evening, right now we're going to this book signing!" Kissing him on the cheek the mother left the room.

It was a weird experience for all. At the head of the table a formally dressed woman stood chatting to Troy and Gabriella. A publisher and agent through and through, she was hurriedly rushing through the formality of the event and the order of play. Quickly glancing down to the end of the table she counted each child by name. Harry, Erin, Matt, Sebastian, Lily, Jonny, Rory, Charlie, Toni and Sarah. Catching the eldest's eye she mouthed generic questions and pointed to the baby strapped to his sister's and his own chests. Replying with a nod and thumbs up, Toni reached is elongated index finger to his littlest brother's cheeking, evidently grabbing his attention. Navy eyes met baby blue and the oldest leant down to place a kiss on the youngest child's forehead. To say that Ellie, Caleb and Joe Bolton were excited would be an understatement. The bustling and frantic panicking around the room diverted their eyes from the brightly coloured displays on the walls around them.

"Alright everybody, listen up," a man, in black with a walkie-talkie around his belt, shouted from on top of a chair near the view blocked entrance. "We open the doors in two minutes so this is your warning call and I need to say something to everybody so don't start faffing around! Alright kids, I don't want you to be frightened, so I'm going to warn you now." This elicited a glance of nervousness between Lily and John, the shyest of them all. "Your parents and older siblings have written a killer book that appeals to literally everybody. There is such a variety of people out there waiting to meet you and get you sign their books, from college freshmen to middle aged men. They are all as excited as fans at a Bieber concert, therefore there is going to be a huge rush when those doors open. Just warning you! 'Rents don't worry we will have people on the doors just reminding them that there are young kids and babies in the room. Finally we've chosen one fan near the end of the line to come in first, he's just waiting so the rush will occur right after they have finished. Alright? Open them up!"

Somewhat surprisingly, the first reader through the doors was an incredibly handsome, tall teenage boy. He nervously made his way to Troy and Gabriella at the closest side of the long table. Wordlessly he handed a pristine copy of _100 Fingers, 100 toes _to Troy. Chuckling softly, Troy signed the front page in his messy scrawl. "Whoa, you're tense man. Breathe! We don't bite...no...Most of don't bite! Keep your fingers away from Harry" the father joked. The boy let off a feminine giggle and murmured a nonspecific response. Glancing at Gabriella in the next seat, the boy's expressions soften as his icy blue eyes met Caleb, who was facing his way on his mother's lap.

"I'm guessing this is one of the triplets I have been hearing about on your blog?" he looked at Gabriella questionably.

"So you're a follower as well as a reader?" she asked, just as quizzically, however her similar smile ceased the sense of tension.

Nodding enthusiastically, the boy smiled shyly. "You don't know how hard I am trying to resist the urge to go all fangirl on you right now," he admitted quietly. "But, your family's book is truly inspiring. It's just my dad and I at home but this book and its stories have helped us so much. So, thank you. All of you."

Without thinking straight, Gabriella picked up Caleb; sat him on her husband's lap; pushed out her chair; stood up and walked around the long table to stand in front of the significantly taller and gangly boy. "Is it alright if I hug you?"

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" he chuckled slightly. "But if you insist!" stepping forward and enveloping the short woman in a hug. It was a nice hug, a mother's hug. Pulling away awkwardly, the boy smiled and slid his book onto the table.

Striding around back to her seat, Gabriella picked up her favourite lilac sharpie and scribbled on the first page. Smiling up at the boy Gabriella sighed, "I'm sorry; I never got your name?"

"Scott, Scott Anderson."

"Well Scott Anderson, lets introduce you to the family. First three: Harry, Erin and Matt."

Troy took over and stood between the next three seated children, still with the baby in his arms. "This little thing here is Caleb, and these three are Seb, Lily and John. I'm afraid the little one won't be able to sign the book but if need be, I can get a little dribble stain on the corner if you wish!" they both laughed and the three children neatly scrawled their names next to Erin's

"And finally, Seb's twin Rory; Charlie, who is very excited today because he has permission to sign his name for the first time; our eldest Antonio with our final boy, Joe and our eldest and youngest daughters Ellie and Sarah!" Gabriella finished. Smiles were shared between Scott and the eldest siblings as more names were written.

"I really enjoyed the chapters you wrote, Antonio. Especially the ones about the choir you're in. You're particularly eloquent for a boy our age and I share your pain with the grammar or lack thereof in the words of high school students!" Scott rambled quickly and bashfully. Yes, he had to admit, Antonio Bolton was somebody who he looked up to for they had experienced many similar things.

Toni had used this opportunity as a chance to share his stories of how crap high school could be for people who were different. His tales of the best to stand up to your bullies and how to remind yourself that you are important reached out to many young people across the country, including the boy who stood in front of him today. "To begin with Scott I must thank you for your kind words about my writing and I am glad that it is not just my girlfriend and I who share my views on the atrocious grammar I hear in the halls of my high school. However I must warn you, only my mother, grandmother and girlfriend have the privilege of calling me by my first name, call me Toni and I will not ignore the emails that you with hopefully send to the address that I have just written in your book. Get in touch if you need any help with any prejudice that may come your way, trust me, I have plenty of experience in the name calling you will receive." Toni explained without taking his eyes off of the book on the table.

_How the hell does he know?_ Scott wondered, a shocked expression overcoming his features.

"I have the best gaydar out of all the straight men you will ever meet." He joked. "But I'm serious, even if you just want to rant to somebody, email me and I'll listen."

"I listen too" the boy to his right pitched in. Charlie smiled at Scott, and it was that juvenile grin that would keep him joyful for the rest of the day.

The rest of the book signing followed smoothly yet busily. It seemed that a book about a family of fifteen was extremely popular. This became an undeniable truth when three days afterwards when Sarah came running into her parents' room in the evening. One word she said and one word kept everyone up longer than they should've been on a school night. But Opera was turned down when reality hit the family.

Two days after, Toni was sat at his disorganised desk with his head in his hands. His brain and his calculus homework were not cooperating with each other this afternoon. Sighing loudly he pulled his laptop in front of his annoyed face, however his frown was transformed into a small smile as his background lit up the room and his girlfriend smiled from the computer screen.

Deciding that he needed some time doing pointless things on the internet, Toni quickly logged on to his email account and began sifting through the usual junk that spammed his inbox. His bespectacled eyes landed on an email with the subject: _Hi this is Scott._


	4. The Baby Sitter: Part 1

**Hi all. First of all I would like to thank all of you that reviewed chapter three. It included the controversial issue of homosexuality in young people and it was a risky move that paid off and received great, positive support. I am not gay myself but I fully support the LGBT community worldwide and it made me so happy inside when I read your comments on how you all thought about Rory being gay was an interesting and thoughtful .I have thank you all for your support to the community that you showed by simply understanding. So here's chapter 4. I hope you will enjoy it.  
Don't judge, stay awesome and enjoy!**

Usually the bliss the follows the birth of a child last for the eighteen and a bit years the it takes for the child to grow up and move out to college or to start the lives as adults, for a better way to phrase it. And by usually I mean hopefully. Unfortunately it rarely does. For many parents the first bump or health problem in the children cut the time of unbelievable happiness; however for Troy and Gabriella Bolton they saw these occurrences of the occasional bout of flu or even more rarely chickenpox as just a little speed bump in the highway. Well that's what they say they believed.

The Bolton Thirteen were known worldwide as one of the most reported families in the USA, whether it be the annual photo shoot and article at people magazine or the outrageous articles in mothers magazines claiming that there was no way fifteen people under one single roof could get along as chipped as the Bolton family did. Yet the general opinion of the Bolton family was positive. You would ask a person living in a state far away from the New Mexico they resided in about the family and responses would keep to the general: oh yes, beautiful children. Despite their popularity and status both parents still worked full time jobs and no member had ever been harassed for information. It was like they were normal. But when Elinor Bolton was spotted entering four months after she initially left for good, it got slightly busier.

Gabriella huffed loudly as the door leading to the garage slammed shut behind her husband. Turning around to face said husband, her distorted expression altered into the soft gaze of a mother in love. She spied as Troy nuzzled Ellie's capped forehead with his nose as he bounced her slightly in her baby carrier. The baby then made a soft yawning noise and the followed by laying her head on her father's cotton covered, warm chest. Closing her eyes, it became clear that the toll of the previous hospital examination had finally hit the tiny baby.

Pushing herself off of the dinner table, Gabriella walked over to the duo. "Here, let me take her up to bed," she insisted holding her arms out.

"No way. You Mrs Bolton are going straight to our bedroom to get ready for the dinner reservation I made two hours ago at_ Baylor's_," Troy countered back, placing his large palm over the back of his daughter's head to reinforce his statement.

"What?"

"You, me, Zeke's fabulous cuisine, quiet and time for us to relax. We need some time alone and you need some time to wind down and stop worrying." He insisted further.

"Troy Bolton, you never cease to amaze me. I love you!" this was when the first carefree smile graced Mrs Bolton's features for the past week. Quickly rushing up the stairs- but not after giving Seb a kiss on the cheek as she passed him on them- Gabriella ran into the master bedroom. Chuckling gently at his wife's enthusiasm, Troy followed her up the staircase and turned in the opposite direction into the nursery. Tentatively unstrapping the baby carrier and laying Ellie on the changing table, he pried the white and pink pinstriped baby cap from the head. A look of pain passed across his face and he whispered his worries as he glanced at the bandages coving her small ears.

"Ah sweetheart, you probably can't hear me right now, but I promise you daddy's going to fix this. I will do everything in my power to make sure you can hear all the beautiful music in this house." Picking her up and placing her in the crib, he glanced over his shoulder a final time and flicked the lights out.

Meanwhile, a floor above in the smallest bedroom in the Bolton's extensive home, Toni stood in front of his laptop holding four shirts to his chest- in the view of his webcam- dressed in just a muscle tee and a pair of old sweats. Scott's face could be seen on the computer's screen and his eyebrow arched as his eyes analysed the clothes before him. It may seem a bit desperate but Toni really had no idea what he was doing. Sure he was good with romantic words and romantic gestures however when it came to fashion he had no idea what so ever. Henceforth his new fashionista friend was currently giving him advice via a Skype chat. "Okay then, I'm thinking simple yet crisp. Let's start with the white but keep the blue, just in case." Scott nodded at the shirt hanging furthest to the left.

"Dude, I can't thank you enough for this. I've been stressing out all day about what to wear and you've literally become my fairy godmother, you know, without the pumpkin of course. I owe you one." Toni smiled into the camera as he pulled the shirt onto his torso. "What about pants?" he asked, not looking up from the buttons he was buttoning.

"Slacks, black if you have them." He stated immediately, shaking his head. _This boy really is clueless._"Now roll the sleeves up to your elbows. Trust me, with arms like yours you should be showing them off."

"How do you know how to accentuate these babies, puny boy?" Toni joke half heartedly.

"You must have forgotten, my boyfriend is also a swimmer with biceps that could definitely rival yours, thank you very much Mr Bolton!" he replied back with his _bitch please _look on his face.

A knock was then heard as Toni's bedroom door, sending his apologies to Scott, Toni stood from the chair he had fell into in their joking turning his back to the camera to open the door. Troy Bolton frowned at his son's dress: white dress shirt and sweats. "Looking a bit weird son! Anyway I really need you to do me a favour, your mom and I just got back from the hospital with Ellie and I thought it would be nice to take mom out for dinner tonight. You okay to run the fort for a couple of hours?" he asked.

Laughing at his father's joke, "You're joking right?" From his dad's confused look, he wasn't. "April 30th doesn't ring any bells what so ever?" No change. "My anniversary with Niki, in particular our dinner is tonight. I can't just cancel now; I'm going over to the Danforth's to pick her up in twenty minutes plus I've had this night planned for weeks dad. _Weeks."_

Hearing the desperation in his son's voice, Troy was tied. Suddenly a small cough could be heard from the laptop speakers. "If I may Mr Bolton. I am fully aware of the situation that you're in. Gabriella's obviously raiding her closet right now for the perfect thing to wear and you do not want to disappoint her or your son. Yet you clearly don't fully trust your fifteen year old daughter on her own with the rest of your children." Scott put into the conversation.

Turning to his son with a baffled expression he asked, "How the hell does he do that?"

With an equally stunned expression Toni replied, "Magic".

In five minutes it was settled, in twenty minutes Scott would arrive at the Bolton household. He would babysit until the last couple arrived home. Just before Troy left the room and the boys were about to hang up, Toni remembered something, "Wait, what..." he started.

"The waistcoat and the black Balmorals should do the trick," Scott said calmly before clicking the end call button. Grinning at the now blank computer screen Toni shut his laptop and finished getting ready.

"Alright then, rule number one listen to Scott and do what he says." Troy commanded to the nine children in front of them. "Rule number two if any of the triplets wake up whilst we're out please help Scott calm whoever it is down before they wake the others. And finally, rule number three; go to bed on time!" He stopped pacing and followed by kissing each on the forehead before turning to his wife. "Ready?"

"Sure, I'll drive" Gabriella insisted. Starting out to the door, the two eager parents were halted by a rushing body hastily opening the front door. "Antonio James Bolton!" the mother scolded.

"Sorry mom, but I'm running really late. I'll be home before eleven and is it still alright if Niki stays over?" her son rambled, fumbling with the keys to Troy's old truck. Shaking her head at his nervousness, Gabriella stepped down the porch to her son. Covering his hands with hers, Gabriella stopped his scrabbling. Straightening his pea coat and pushing his hair from his eyes, she gave her son a knowing smile.

"You look very handsome baby; I hope your date goes well. And you know the rules..." Gabriella started.

"Door open, I know Mami. And thanks, have a good date with dad!" he replied with a subtle eye roll that didn't go unnoticed. Sliding into the driver's seat, Toni started the ignition and backed out of the drive way.

Troy and Gabriella had left the house for no longer than thirty seconds and Scott already found him pulled between five youngest children who were lined in front of him when they met for the second time. His attention was quickly drawn to the tug on the scarf he had draped around his neck. Harry's brown eyes were searching his as he continued to pull on the fabric. Once the gaze had been locked for some time, the toddler reached up his arms signifying his wished to be carried. Scott looked questionably at Sarah, his cohort for the night.

Giving the boy a nod, Sarah watched curiously as the new acquaintance picked up Harry and rested him on his hip. The girl had to admit she'd been wary on the idea of a babysitter outside the family. Especially when her parents mentioned that they'd only known Scott Anderson through the emails and Skype chats he had shared with Toni. However when she saw said new babysitter whisper something into her little brother's ear, eliciting giggle from the boy, those thoughts were pushed back into her mind, still there but not worrying her.

Scott was surprised with his reaction to the three year olds wishes. He didn't think about it, he just abided to what he wanted, unable to say no to his adorable expression. After a little joke about how crazy Toni was, Scott started the grand tour of the massive house. His own personal tour guide, the little boy in his arms. Walking into the living room, Scott scanned the three couches and the vast array of movies stored under the television. Harry then insisted on showing him all his favourites, from the obvious animated Disney movies to the surprising number of musicals in the mix. He was particularly perplexed when the three year old told him that Singing in the Rain was his favourite movie ever because it simply made him happy.

The tour continued, and Scott had the pleasure of visiting every room in the house including the mundane utility room and the blush inducing parent's bedroom. They'd finally reached the last floor of the house and at this point Scott's favourite room had to be the family room so far. It was on the ground floor and the one wall was made of complete glass, leading into the garden. He was sure that during the day, it would allow the sunlight to hit the beautiful family portrait on the opposite wall and the grand piano in the corner. At that point Matthew, Harry's twin, had joined them and stated that "Toni's, always in here with the babies!" his brother would then follow with, "Yeah, he sits them on the top of the piano and plays to them every Saturday morning!" _God, could Antonio Bolton get any more perfect, the bloody swine. _Scott joked with himself. His question was soon disproved when he looked into the teenager's bomb site of a bedroom.

The final stop on the tour was, conveniently, the twins' bedroom. As the three of them stepped through the threshold, Matt asked to look at his watch. Agreeing and watching bemusedly as the boy seemingly read the time despite his young age. "It's our bedtime" he announced after letting go of Scott's wrist.

"If you insist." Scott said. In twenty minutes Scott had managed to have them with their teeth brushed and dressed in their pyjamas. Smiling at their choice of sleep ware (Harry decided on his tractor pyjamas, whilst Matt chose a simple navy and white striped onsie to sleep in) he sat down in between their two beds and chatted with them until the eyelids began to droop. Just as the conversation turned to the subject of racing cars, Scott realised the last sentence he spoke wasn't heard by awake ears. Double checking that both toddlers were tucked in comfortably, Scott walked out of the room, but not before making sure the door was slightly ajar, illuminating Matt's side of the bedroom.

"But, Sarah, Toni said that Niki is staying over tonight and I want to see her when they get back!" the little boy whined to his sister, accentuating his point by resting his hands on his hips.

Sarah merely shook her head and picked him up anyway and flung him over her shoulders. "Charlie, the two of them aren't going to be home for hours. However, I am sure Niki will be more than happy to have a long chat with you in the morning." Nodding enthusiastically, Charlie ended his squirming and let his sister carry him up the stairs.

The two also resumed their chatting as they walked up the first flight of stairs. Nearly sending them toppling over, the two ran into Scott as he walked down from the twins bedroom. "Hi Scotty!" Charlie exclaimed. The four year old was undeterred by his sudden presence in their home, for he had previously sat in with the talks he and his oldest brother shared over the internet. He must admit that he thought Scott dressed a bit weirdly and his voice was rather like his own but he was funny and would join in when Charlie decided to tease his brother.

"I'm taking the terror to bed then I'll deal with Jonny in about half an hour!" Sarah stated to the older boy, in a very worker to employee like fashion. She started to climb the stairs again when Scott's surprisingly rough hands caught her arm and stopped her.

"No way Sarah, I want you to go to your room. Take a shower, relax a bit and once everybody else is in bed you and I are going to have a nice boy chat along with a cup of tea. Now hand over Mr. Diva to me and I'll make sure he goes to bed" the young man insisted, encouraging the transfer of the child from Sarah's arms to his.

Despite his insistence that he was definitely not tired, Charlie fell asleep within thirty seconds of his head hitting the pillow and as he walked back into the sitting room it hit him, with Sarah taking a well deserved break, he was alone with five of Toni's siblings and he had no idea what to do. To waste his time worrying, Scott patted down the pockets of his jeans to ensure the baby monitor to the nursery was still there. Another worry, he had very little experience with babies. Sure his step brother's little six month year old son had taken a particular shine to him when they visited during the Christmas break, but surely not all babies are like that.

Plopping himself between Erin and John on the couch, Scott sighed and ran a hand through his hair "Alright, what do you guys want to do?" he asked the faces looking at him. Receiving blank expressions from them Scott took charge. "Okay, well I want to get to know all of you so sit on the floor, we're playing 20 questions." Sliding off the couch easily and onto the floor, Scott sat down in between Jonny, again, on his right and to his left, where he expected Erin to sit, Sebastian. "You're not joining in Erin?" he asked turning to look at the girl still curled up on the sofa.

"Yeah, I'm just getting a glass of water from the kitchen, but start without me." She insisted, scuttling out of the room into the kitchen.

"Any way, I'll go first. What's your favourite colour?" he collectively asked the group. They all took in a breath to say the inevitable answer but before they could speak Scott interrupted, "Other than blue". Huffing it took a while before Lily started the answers with: "Yellow." Next Jonny admitted to green. Orange from Sebastian and red from Rory. Finally walking back into the room Erin stated "white".

The game continued for another thirty minutes. The current question was: "What do you want to be when you're older?" and they all were joking about Scott's answer. But he couldn't lie to them, when he grows up Scott Anderson wants to be a fashion designer or a writer for Vogue magazine. The laughter was cut off when the monitor in his pockets let out the sounds of gentle wails. Getting to his feet Scott began the walk upstairs to the nursery. As he drew nearer the cries grew louder and as the cries grew louder his nervousness grew greater.

Light pooled into the decently sized room as Scott pushed the door open. The boy immediately located the soft whimpers to the cot furthest from the door and he quickly strode over to it wanting the crying to stop because it was utterly heart breaking just hearing it. He found a long baby boy dressed in a green and white striped onsie kicking his legs about in his sheets. He hates to admit it but Scott instantaneously knew which one of the triplet the this one was, he had spent a lot of time fawning over the pictures that Gabriella had posted on her infamous blog when they were but only month old. His cautiously lifted the baby boy out of his crib and into his ready arms and began rocking him back and forth wishing the screaming to end.

Much to his dismay the infant did not cease his tears. He turned on the spot hoping the rocking sensation would be soothing to the child, as he did so, however, he noticed a neon green post-it on the cot he picked Joseph up from.

_Joseph- hold him so he's resting on your chest with one hand on his bum and the other cradling his head. Hold him high so his head is on your neck. Rock him gently and I find that humming the theme tune to the Lord of the Rings usually helps to get him asleep as well._

_Toni _

Following the written orders, Scott bounced the baby up and down slightly whilst softly humming the song suggested. The results were almost instant, the baby's cries turned into whimpers as the song reached the end of its third repeat. Scott couldn't help but sigh happily at how adorable the little snuffling noises the infant made were. Many would find it odd how Mr Scott Uptight-neatfreak-cleanliness Anderson would allow a four month old baby wipe its runny mucus onto the bare skin of his neck, but when distracted by the cute noises he was making when doing so Scott really couldn't give a damn.

Placing him gently back into his cot and pulling the soft baby blankets over his body, Scott leant against the railings slightly letting his mind wonder for a few seconds. He wished Mark was there, his boyfriend always knew what to say in this type of situation and, as his mind wandered further, he couldn't push away the image of an older version of his boyfriend pacing a room similar to the one he was in now, only with their son or daughter in his soothing arms. He really couldn't believe his fortune sometimes. Two years ago Scott Anderson was a sixteen year old, gay high school student with nobody to hold his hand as he was jeered at and shove into inanimate objects in the school hallway. Now he had someone who could take his frustrated words and say something in return that would just make it infinitely better. Mark had found him in the North Albuquerque central library, after they bumped shoulders passing in opposite directions down the fantasy and sci-fi isle. He was breathtakingly handsome in his prep school uniform yet talked with such an easy going voice that he didn't seem as up himself as many privately educated boys were.

The two had hit it off instantaneously and after fifteen cups of coffee, numerous conversations about Wicked and an awkward encounter with a barista at a coffee house Scott had finally grown the balls to kiss the boy who now he was sure he wouldn't live without. The two remained in the schools they were enrolled when they met, Scott's mother could never afford the fees for the academy Mark was educated at, but now Scott had someone, a friend, a listener and a comforter. It was pure bliss.


	5. The Baby Sitter: Part 2

**Hi all. I'm not going to bother you with a ridiculous introduction. This is simply Part 2 of Chapter 4- The Baby Sitter. Don't judge, stay awesome and enjoy!**

"You know what?"

"What?"

"It's so obvious that Scott picked your outfit!" Niki snorted into a napkin. That thought had been going through her mind all night and she just couldn't suppress it anymore. Sure he looked hot as hell but the last time she saw her boyfriend wearing those black slacks had been the day of his interview.

"What do you mean? I look fabulous, girls dig guys who can pull off suits," Toni replied cockily.

"You wore jeans to homecoming!" _That_ was true.

"I wanted to make a stand against conforming to society's wishes!" _That_ was not true.

Toni and Niki had been talking as such for the past hour, the small privacy of their table in a quaint French restaurant on the outskirts on the city meant that their frequent laughter didn't bother anybody else in the vicinity yet didn't restrict them from experiencing the authentic Parisian atmosphere. Soft jazz floated out of the speakers above and the table they sat at was made out of rusting metal, heck even the waiter reeked of French-ness. Toni's rough hand covered his girlfriends over the table and their giggles died down as they realised the sheer love expressed in each other's eyes. Of course other emotions were held within them, such as the undoubted nervousness in the irises of both teenagers. "If you would've told my six year old self that in eleven years time I would be kissing Toni Bolton on a regular basis and be in complete adoration with him, I wouldn't've believed you for one second!" Niki sighed.

"Was I really that bad of a kid?"

"No, no. I would've told who ever asked that no way would he go for a girl like me. I mean even then you were the model child," Toni clearly made signs of protest. "Dude come on, you could already play piano like a ten year old; you never ever fought or hurt Sarah; you had the best grades in the class; swam like a fish. Everybody looked up to you Toni. I was certain that you would end up with some cheerleader slash prom queen."

"I just ended up with you. An obscenely intelligent; witty; athletic; beautiful girl who actually knows who I am. Niki, you've got offers from..." Toni's gushing was interrupted abruptly.

"...we don't know that yet." Niki replied sternly, head dropping to observe the windings of metal piping on the table they sat at.

"Sweetheart, there is no doubting that the letter in my glove compartment says that you've gotten into Colum..."

"Toni, please can we not talk about it right now."

"Alright, but we're opening them together right after we finish here." Toni insisted, his other hand reaching over to brush a stray ringlet out of Niki's eyes. "I love you, Racer."

"I love you too, Sondheim."

Back in the Bolton home, Scott had just finished tucking in Jonny and, even though her bed time wasn't for another half hour, Lily in for bed. As he'd closed the door leading to the little boy's room gently he noticed the soft glow illuminating from the door frame directly across the hall. Hanging from the wooden door were two metal plaques. One was engraved with the word _Olivier_ and the other said _Einstein_, the only difference was the illuminated messages underneath each name. Like a digital clock face the word _Away_ was displayed underneath Olivier and _Home_ was under the other. Curious, Scott knocked once on the wooden surface. Receiving a faint "Come in," from the other side Scott hesitantly walked into the threshold of the bedroom.

At first he was struck with awe. The lights in the room were all turned off, but small specks littered the ceiling from a projector sitting between the legs of the boy lying on the floor in gap between the loft beds on either side of the bedroom. "I've always liked astronomy," The boy said from the floor. A laughed gently, "All that stuff out there makes my problems seems so tiny in comparison." His gangly arm pointed at a group in the corner closest to Scott at the door. "You see that there, that's Orion. He's always been my favourite. You can even see his dog, Sirius, trailing behind it."

"Hmm, Leo's my favourite. Got to stay true to the zodiac." Scott joked half-heartedly, moving further into the room and taking a seat on a desk chair to the right of Rodrigo on the floor. "Why aren't you downstairs with everybody else?" he asked.

"Rather be alone," he stated bluntly. Scott, taking the boys demeanour to heart, started to make his way out of the room. "No, no. Can you please stay?"

"Sure."

The two sat in a silence as comfortable as would be expected considering the two had only known each other for a number of hours. Scott spent the time picking out the constellations on the ceiling revelling in their simplistic beauty. He's been so immersed in his activity that he had forgotten the boy lying at his feet. "You're gay aren't you?" Rodrigo said aloud, the noise bringing Scott's mind literally out of the clouds.

"I'm not sure whether I can answer that considering your parents are employing me." Scott replied cautiously.

"Toni said you had a boyfriend called Mark, we were talking about it earlier. I just wanted clarification." Scott rushed after reading the less than happy look on the teenagers face.

"You got me," Scott laughed slightly. "Yes I'm gay and I do indeed have a boyfriend."

"What's it like? You know having a boyfriend." Scott physically froze at the boy's question.

_Surely not. _His mind thought. _Is this boy actually coming out to his baby sitter?_

"Rory, do you think you might be gay?" Scott asked tentatively. Rory at first tensed up at the question, not believing how unsubtle he was. But after dwelling on his thoughts for a while he simply laughed.

"No..."

"So then wh..."

"I don't think I'm gay, I know I'm gay Scott." He guffawed another time after seeing the look on the older boy's face. "I just thought it would be cool talking to somebody who's been in the same situation as me. But you probably want to get everybody to bed, can we talk later?" he asked, his striking blue eyes piercing Scott's.

"Actually, I've already promised Sarah a girly chat this evening," Scott said fiddling with his fingers, a nervous characteristic of his. "I know what it's like to be teased and bullied about your sexuality, I still get it now. But you, you go to a fabulous school and will do so as well when you move into high school, where bullying of any kind is acted upon instantly. I'm not going to lie to you Rory people are going to call you horrible names like 'fag' and 'lady-boy' but you and I are lucky because we both have amazing people surrounding us and supporting us, who will make sure that those names won't get you. That's what matters."

"Only mom knows," Rory murmured quietly.

"Well the best way to tell everybody else is together. Do it simply, there's no need to plan out some elaborate coming out speech just do what comes naturally okay?" Rod nodded and Scott let a smile grace his features. "I'll also tell Toni to give you my email address. If you ever wonder about anything or have any questions just contact me okay?" He received another nod from the twelve year old. "The most important thing to remember is that you're not alone."

Scott gave him a final smile and began to walk out of the room. Just as the older of the two started to close the door as he left Rory interrupted. "Thanks Scott."

"It's a pleasure Rod." The door shut behind him.

By the time nine thirty rolled around, the home was practically silent as the majority of the Bolton siblings were tucked in bed asleep only the four eldest were still awake. The twins were in their room, Sebastian glued to his laptop as he conversed with his friends via facebook and Rodrigo decided to spend the time finishing the soldering to his new circuit board for his electronics project for school. Meanwhile Sarah sat on her purple and white comforter, nursing her personal mug with her name written across it filled with calm camomile tea. Sitting at the end of her decent sized single bed, by her freshly manicured feet, a boy whom she had known for a grand total of three hours. A boy who had spent his time willingly talking to her as she acted like a teenage girl, fawning over her first boyfriend, which in reality was absolutely true. She and Scott Anderson had spent an hour chattering away about their boyfriends, and it was magnificent. The only other times she got to do this was when her mother had a night free of marking and report writing, but she respects the fact that her mom had to work in order to keep up their lifestyle- the money from her great-grandfather's will was spent conservatively, not matter how large the sum given to her father, from the wealthy ancestor, was. Erin and Lily were still too young to really have a proper conversation about boys with and any of her brothers were out of the question, so this time alone with a fun, easy-to-talk-to, affable friend of her brother's was- for lack of a better word- nice.

The pale faced boy snorted into his own mug of tea and said, "But seriously, Mark is the biggest dork in the whole world. Last Halloween he and his friend Jacob from school dressed up as these two main characters from this old TV show that they love. They spent the whole night riding around on this little kids' scooter with the name 'Sasha' painted on it, wearing these mildly offensive T-shirts. They thought they were so cool, I must say it was rather endearing."

Sarah giggled into her palm; she couldn't help but notice a similarity between Daniel and his friends and Scott's boyfriend Mark. "Scrubs."

Scott looked up surprised, "How did you know?"

"I've be subjected to various box sets from an early age. I think dad and uncle Chad may have done something similar when they were your age!" she stated holding her head in her hands with an embarrassed sigh.

"But you see, at the time, we'd only known each other for a few months. I had no idea he was such a..." Scott was struggling to find a word that was appropriate yet didn't offend his boyfriend's reputation too much.

"Nerd?" Sarah inputted.

He couldn't disagree, "Yeah, I never knew that the boy I was hopelessly crushing for was such a nerd. But seriously, whenever he gets hyped about a new book release or movie premier he turns into this adorable overexcited child. It's one of my most favourite things about him." The two shared a knowing look and a short chortle. "Anyway, enough about me and my beau tell me about this Danni fellow who Toni constantly pretends to hate. You've known each other for years haven't you?"

The olive skin that stretched across the girl's high cheek bones turned a faint shade of pink. "Yeah, we've been friends since before we really knew what friends were. He's just always been there, never been a time when I haven't known him." She smiled at the childhood memories that were brought up whenever she imagined her life with Dan.

"You've liked him for years haven't you?" he inquired further, the darkening shade of her blush was an answer in itself. "Gosh, you and Toni have romances from the likes of novels!" he joked gently and Sarah couldn't disagree honestly.

"We're taking it slowly. The problem with starting a relationship in this sought of situation is that you can never go back, only forward or not at all," Sarah explained solemnly.

Scott, confused, asked "What do you mean?"

"If things don't work out then there is no way we could go back to the state we were before it all started. It would be a constant state of awkward stupidity" she answered with a sombre expression.

"There's no doubt that Niki and Toni are going to get married and have lots of beautiful, ridiculously talented babies." Sarah knew what was coming, the constant talk about how that really only happens once. But no..."So just take them as an example, if they can do it so can you."

"You really think that Scott?" she asked sheepishly.

He placed a soothing hand on her shoulder and gave her a reassuring smile "Of course" he said.

A comfortable silence washed across the room, the two of them silently sipped at their tea quietly, desperately needing a topic of conversation to arise. After all the two had only met each other earlier in the evening. Scott decided on keeping the focus of the talk on the girl beside he so he asked, "Toni mentioned that you want to do law at college."

"Stanford, I want to study Law at Stanford"

"Awesome, tell me about it."

Niki loved the look out. It was plucked right out of a romance film, yet it wasn't as famous as one may believe it to be. It was situated a few miles from the neighbourhood that she and Toni lived in, to get there you needed to drive up the red rock mountains that surround Albuquerque. Once you're up there all you do is park your car and admire the full view of the city. That view was best at night, when the street lamps were lit and the only sign of movement are the head lights of the occasional car traversing the roads below. It was like a mirrored reflection of the star littered sky above. The thing that hit you the most was the silence, despite the number of busy areas of the city, from above it looked almost calm. Niki loved it, which alone calmed her when she was frantic and worried. The reason why she and her boyfriend sat on the hood of his truck, crossed legged, knee-to-knee, two envelopes between them. One with her name written on it, the other with his.

She picked up her letter, the university crest emblazoned on the left hand corner, and turned it over in her nimble hands a few times torn between what she wanted to do and what she thought she wanted to do. Her breathing became ragged as her thoughts started to bring panic and as she began to see spots in her vision Niki felt to warm hands clasp hers gently, halting her actions. Letting go of one, Toni brought his left palm to cup her cheek brushing away tears she hadn't known she let fall. "Hey, hey, hush. Stop panicking, you're going to black out if you don't breathe properly." He soothed as the pad of his thumb stroked small circles on her jaw.

"I'm ready." She said, letting out a shaking sigh. "Let's just do this." She dropped her letter into her lap and picked up Toni's shoving it into his grip. Grabbing hers and picking at the seal she looked at her boyfriend to make sure he was ready as well.

"Quickly, like a band aid?" he asked.

"Like a fucking band aid!" she agreed, tearing open the envelope viciously. Her eyes scanned over the master head of the piece of paper but stopped after reading the first few sentences which followed. She then proceeded to drop the letter and refrain from uttering a single sound before Toni's eyes locked onto hers.

She could've sworn that a small smile erupted on his lips but as he continued reading any grace of a smile vanished. He calmly placed the paper face down on his lap and turned his head upwards so that his eyes could meet hers. He looked at her expectantly, "Well?"

However much Niki wished she could say something, however hard she tried, she just couldn't. She dropped her head shyly to hide her grin but still managed to pass the letter from her lap to his. He read similarly as before, thoroughly and painstakingly and teasingly slowly. Once he'd finished for the second time, his facial expression hadn't altered. That was until she felt her body being push backwards onto the windscreen of the car and a pair a warm, dry lips attach onto hers. Eagerly returning Toni's actions she felt her body melt into the curves of his, whilst her arms winded around his neck and his hands grabbed at her hip bones firmly. During their heated kiss, Niki let her hands find their ways into Toni's dark hair, her fingernails dug into his scalp as the kiss grew more desperate. Reciprocating, Toni's own hands wandered towards the bare skin of his girlfriends back, pushing away the warm layers of her clothes. They broke apart as they simultaneously sighed in pleasure.

Toni's left arm wound further around Niki's slender waist, so that his hand was placed on her left hip, and his other arm reached up to brush a ringlet from her vision. "So?" she breathed quietly.

Chuckling breathlessly Toni let a broad grin stretch across his handsome features, "So, we're going to have to find a tiny apartment half way between Julliard and Columbia." Suddenly his face softened. "I'm so proud of you, a full scholarship to do Medicine at an Ivy League school, Niki that's practically unheard of!"

"What?" Niki asked confused, her brows furrowing.

"Niki, you got an athletic scholarship!" Toni exclaimed happily. "Did you not read the letter?" he asked.

A faint blush appeared on her cheeks, "I stopped once it said I was accepted" she replied quietly.

"You are amazing, you know that" Toni said before pulling her into another lip lock.

Half-past ten rolled around and Scott found himself leaning against the kitchen counter top, drying the mugs he and Sarah had used after cleaning them and the rest of the dishes he found in the sink. Finishing the final mug and placing it in the correct cabinet, Scott turned to lean his back against the counter and took a look around the kitchen. In the cabinets up high were the mugs (all were white in colour, fifteen with names printed in block letters and another fifteen were just plain white), the plates were stacked on the wall and the glasses stood in a cupboard underneath. He came to realise that he was absolutely exhausted and he found it hard to believe how Troy and Gabriella coped. Yet however tired he felt, there was an odd sense of fulfilment which went along with it.

His thoughts however were interrupted with a soft sob coming from the door frame. "S-s-scott?" called Charlie's cracked voice. Pushing himself of the counter top and rushing to the boy's aid, Scott took in the four year old's red, puffy eyes and white-knuckled hands gripping onto some sort of comfort blanket. He knelt down to the boy's level and pulled him into a warm embrace, hoping to calm his loud sobs.

"Ah sweetheart, did you have a bad dream?" he asked, gently pulling back to wipe Charlie's eyes with the sleeve of his long sleeved t-shirt. The four year old only nodded in reply and clung harder to the older boy's shirt with his small hands. "How about we go back upstairs together and I'll stay with you until you fall asleep? How about that?" Scott reasoned with the younger boy, stroking the brown hair that had fallen over Charlie's eyes back over his forehead.

"Alright," Charlie agreed, but still refusing to drop his grip on the t-shirt. Deciding it was for the best, Scott hoisted the youngling into his arms and Charlie's head fell against his shoulders and the thumb of the hand that gripped onto the blanket found its way into his mouth. In fact, just as Scott's foot stepped on the first of the stairs, Charlie was so nearly asleep that he failed to notice the front door open and the bodies of Toni and Niki walking into the entrance hall of his home.

"Hey there little man, you didn't stay up late to wait for us did you?" Niki ribbed as her eyes set on the two boys on the staircase.

"Kitty?" Charlie asked, confused. He lifted his head from Scott's shoulder and he smiled slightly as he realised who was standing by the door. Niki smiled back and held out her hands for Scott to pass the sleepy child into her arms. "Will you take me to bed Niki, I'm really sleepy?"

"Sure thing my darling," Niki reassured him, "but first say goodnight to you brother and Scott," she reminded the boy.

Toni stepped forward and planted a kiss onto his brother's forehead and Scott, once again, swiped his hair from his brow. "Night," Charlie muttered over a large yawn. The two seniors watched as the others walked quietly up the stairs, as to not awake the other children asleep.

"You didn't have any troubles did you?" Toni asked.

"Other than Charlie's nightmare just now, nothing at all really. Joe woke up at around eight-thirty but your note proved to be extremely informative and instructive" Scott answered, though it was obvious that their conversation was merely there to cover up the ever pressing issue.

Toni chuckled to himself, "Yeah, he's the only one of the three who has had much trouble sleeping, the poor thing. Hopefully that will end soon."

"Any news about your sister?" Scott asked tentatively, knowing it was a touchy subject for Toni.

"Not of recent, she had a hospital appointment today. But the general consensus is that she can have hearing aids fitted in a few months, and then the hope is that when she's a bit older the technology in hearing correction and cochlea implants will be vastly improved and she can be operated to give her full hearing." Toni rattled off.

"Well at least one thing's for certain," Scott said, a wise tone to his voice.

"What's that then, oh wise one?"

"She's got a kick-ass older brother to look after her!" Scott laughed, punching the older boy in the shoulder gently. The two chuckled in unison, happy for the meanwhile.

"I knew there was a reason why I married you!" Gabriella joked, after throwing her used napkin onto her finished plate in front of her.

Troy grinned cheekily back at her, "And what is that?"

"Well, you always know what to do when I have little control over my feelings" she replied sweetly, lifting her glass of wine to her lips. "And you agreed to have an extortional number of children with me," she grumbled quickly before emptying her glass of the red liquid.

"You always knew I wanted to have a lot of kids," Troy argued back, only to receive a very blatant 'you're-kidding-me' look in return. "What?" he asked, the pitch of his voice rising as he chuckled through his speech.

Gabriella swallowed her last gulp of wine, set her glass down in front of her and pointed a long finger at her husband. "Are you trying to tell Mr Troy Bolton play-maker-superstar that at the tender age of seventeen you wanted thirteen children before you turned forty?" she enquired, a questioning smile on her face.

"Maybe not thirteen" he said, crumbling under the gaze of his wife. The two laughed in unison.

After another thirty minutes, the duo had finished the bottle of wine they were sharing. After bidding good day to the waiting staff and sticking their heads through the kitchen doors to say goodbye to Zeke, they left for home still a little tense but relaxed nonetheless.

When Troy and Gabriella opened the front door, the house was silent bar a wittering coming from the family room. Tip-toeing through the hall to the door of the room, the small muttering grew gradually louder until two distinct voices could be distinguished. The two were relatively high in pitch and both were frantic with happiness.

"Yeah, Mark's got us a place. I'm sure he'll have room for the..." The conversation was cut off as the clip of Troy's Oxfords hit the laminate flooring. The room was cast in a dim light from the lamps littered across the room. Three teens was sprawled on the soft cushions and beanbags against the left hand side of the windows. Niki was sat between her boyfriend's gangly long legs, his back propped up against the glass; arms draped loosely around Niki's waist and his head lulled to the side, small snoring noises emitting from his mouth. Scott was sitting comfortably on a beanbag, clutching a smaller cushion to his chest. The two awake teenagers looked up as the adults entered the room.

Alerted by his employers' entrance, Scott scooted to his feet, brushing invisible lint off his shirt. "Uh, I better be heading out."

Gabriella quickly stopped the boy from walking out the door and gave him a look that said, _seriously?_ "Tonterías mi hijo. Vamos a pagar en primer lugar, hay necesidad de precipitarse. A menos que tu papá te quiere en casa en un momento determinado. Troy podría dejar ahora si…" Gabriella said rapidly, the Spanish flying easily out of her mouth. Only she did not notice the taken aback look on the teen's face. It was Troy you broke her out of her ramblings.

"Gabi, el niño no entiende una palabra que estás diciendo." Troy murmured into her ear, Gabriella- for a moment- looked confused. "Mi amor, él no habla español!" Troy added hastily.

"¡Ah, mierda, lo siento Scott! We speak Spanish every alternating day when we have newborns so they grow up bilingual" Gabriella explained, touching Scott shoulder gently. "It's past midnight so Troy and I have just started to talk in Spanish, that we forgot."

"Don't worry about it, honestly" Scott reassured the worrying mother. "But I really have to be off," he said, bidding goodbyes to the others in the adjacent room.

"Not quite yet young man, we need to pay you first," Troy added quickly before the teenager in question could walk out.

"Don't bother Mr Bolton, it was my pleasure. You're kids are fantastic. Call me if you need a babysitter another time," he replied hastily, brushing past the adults to the front door, slipping his coat onto his shoulders. He was about to turn the door handle when he felt a small hand shove a small number of bills into his spare hand. "Mrs. Bolton I can't take this..." he began.

"Scott you've just spent four hours with twelve children under your care, you've earned the money." She ordered, an authoritive tone laced with her normal soft voice. He just gave her a smile and stepped out into the night towards his run down mini cooper on the Bolton's driveway. "Oh and Scott if you ever call me Mrs. Bolton again, I'll unfollow your blog" she chided gently, laughing as she saw the boy's face turned from content to stunned in under a second. Shutting the heavy oak door behind her Gabriella smiled again and headed to the family room to help Toni regain enough awake brain cells to deposit himself upstairs into bed.

Breakfast the next morning was the usual hectic affair. Despite the fact that it was a Saturday morning all fifteen of the Bolton family- plus Niki who had stayed the night with her boyfriend- were crammed around the table in the kitchen. Shoulder-to-shoulder small and large hands alike would pass glasses of juice and the quintessential bowls of porridge down the table and idle chitchat would pass between members querying about the day ahead. The sound began to dissipate as food started to disappear from bowls, this was when Toni cleared his throat loudly, gaining the attention of practically everybody eating. "Uh, Niki and I have something we'd like to tell you" he stated nervously.

This caught Rory's attention, _Well the best way to tell everybody else is together. Do it simply, there's no need to plan out some elaborate coming out speech just do what comes naturally okay. _The words rang in his ears. That's what Scott said right? Everybody together, simple. Yeah. "I do to," he said halting Toni's words abruptly.

"Well, I think our news might be a bit more important than yours" Toni said smugly, only this just egged and encouraged his little brother more.

"You wanna bet on that Bed-hair" Rodrigo retorted, earning himself a disapproving look from his mother.

"Alright then" he said before turning to the rest of his family addressing them all. "Niki and I are moving to New York in the summer to go to college there."

"What!" That was the first response heard before havoc set off. First it was Troy and Gabriella interrogating the teens about which colleges they'd gotten into. Then the comments about U of A and what happened to it. Afterwards the confused voices of the younger children could be heard in the mitts of the aural chaos: _"Where's New York? Is it very far away? Can I come too". _That last one nearly broke Toni's heart. That particular comment came from Charlie and it hurt to think that he would have to tell his doe-eyed little brother that no he couldn't come along because yes New York was very far away.

However during this noise, Rory had clambered onto the table top. Slamming his barefoot into the wood, quiet ensued. Spreading his arms out proudly he said slowly and clearly, "I am gay!"

Silence.


	6. Mark With the Nice Butt

"Boy are we going to be talkative today" Gabriella exclaimed as she dropped her messenger bag onto the cushioned seat before her. Fishing out her purse from within the canvas bag she looked at the four friends seated in the beautifully smelling coffee shop, "and since I'm in a good mood I'm buying. Everyone for the regulars?" she asked receiving nods all around. Turing towards the cashier the mother smiled at the familiarity of the cafe. She, Taylor, Sharpay, Kelsi and Martha had regularly visited this precise coffee shop during their years at college and high school and it held many memories to the five of them. Sure the interior had changed as new trends came in and the decor of the shop became outdated but the atmosphere inside never changed. It still smelled of the calming aroma of brewing coffee and the friendly feeling when you walked through the door each time never faded. Due to their regular presence in their business George and his wife Maria came to know the girls as more than just customers. They still owned the shop twenty-one years after first opening.  
Once Gabriella came to a standstill at the counter, the handsome young man manning the coffee machine gave her a smile as he looked up from what appeared to be a tattered copy of a Tin Tin book. "Hi there, what can I get you?" he asked, angular eyebrows shifting up his forehead expectantly. Maybe it was just the familiarity she felt whilst in the shop, but Gabriella was certain she had seen this person before. However the distant look upon her face made him uncomfortable and he tried to catch her unfocussed eyes. "Are you okay?" he asked politely.  
"What?" Gabriella said, sharply pulled back into reality. "Oh yes, sorry. One tall latte, a non-fat mocha, one cappuccino, a hot chocolate and..."  
"Remember to order decaf," Sharpay's shrill voice interrupted.  
Smiling grudgingly, "And one decaf green tea for the insistent pregnant lady" Gabriella finished. The teenager laughed at turned to the coffee machine behind him and she swore she heard better not upset her then escape from his mouth. Laughing, Gabriella looked down to her purse to pull out the cash needed to pay for their drinks only to become distracted by the marker placed into the book the teenager had been reading. It wasn't a bookmark so to speak, it was a strip of photographs from a photo booth, and smiling Gabriella looked closely at the one picture visible, peeking out the top of the page. She recognised the boy in the coffee shop first his tanned face beaming at the camera, a perfect set of pearly whites showing as he grinned cheekily at the camera. His left arm was slung around the shoulders on another person, their face pressed against his neck, his features partially covered by a shadow but he was distinguishable. The cogs inside Gabriella's mind turned as she finally realised why this boy looked so familiar. She saw him only the night before, not in the flesh though. She'd seen him in a picture similar to the one in the book; only it was tucked into the picture compartment of her babysitter's wallet. "You're Mark right?" she asked quizzically. "Scott Anderson's boyfriend" she added, hoping it would put the boy at ease. However this made his shoulders tense and he swivelled around to face her rigidly.  
"I really don't want to hear this right now." He muttered. "I'll make these to go" he said, gesturing to the drinks.  
"Hear what?"  
"I don't want a lecture about my sinful behaviour thanks" he said politely.  
"Don't bother making them to go, I want to stay and talk to the boy who's saving me a bucket load of money by letting my son and his girlfriend share his parent's flat whilst he's at college." She added with a sly grin on her face.  
Once again the boy's brows elevated, "Hold on, you're Toni's mom?" Gabriella nodded "Oh my god, I'm so sorry, that was incredibly rude." He wiped his hand on his apron and reached over the counter to shake the woman's hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you Mrs. Bolton, I'm Mark Goodall." He was very dapper for an eighteen year old.  
"Pleasure's all mine Mark, it's nice to put a face to the name." Gabriella joked. "So you're doing the same major as Toni?" she asked.  
"Yeah, at Julliard." He replied as he continued to prepare their coffee order. "We actually met each other at the auditions in Santa Fe. Helped with one another's nerves before we went in. He's an awesome guy!" he added, turning to place the five mugs onto a circular tray. "That's fifteen-sixty-five." He said, opening the cashier to receive change for the twenty dollar note handed to him, only to have it rejected with a slight shake of the head. "I'll bring these over for you" he said picking up the tray with well defined arms.  
"That's a great idea, you can meet Taylor too!" Gabriella gushed, only to receive a confused expression back. "Niki's mom"  
"Oh, cool". He followed the mother to a set of soft chairs where four others sat. One quiet obviously was pregnant, with blonde hair; another was quite short and reminded him of his own mother with curled hair and glasses; next to her a slightly larger woman with very curly hair and finally who he presumed was Taylor due to the uncanny resemblance he saw between her and Niki. "Here we go. Um Green Tea?" he asked gesturing the mug to the blonde with the baby bump. Setting it down he held up the mocha which went to who he thought was Taylor. The hot chocolate and the latte were sat in front of the curly haired and bespectacled women, respectively. As he set down the final cup of coffee in front of Mrs Bolton she caught the attention of Taylor.  
"Hey Taylor, this is the infamous Mark Goodall." She said tilting her head in his direction.  
"Oh my, come here you beautiful human," she exclaimed, placing her coffee on the table and standing from her seat. She walked over to the taken aback teen and wrapped him up in a friendly hug, which Mark returned warily.  
"Taylor!" Martha exclaimed loudly. "Why are you hugging him?"  
"What?" she exclaimed back, "This kid is fabulous, even if he is taking my daughter away from me," She added.  
"I don't blame her. Look at him!"  
"Shar, do we need to remind you that you're pregnant and married?"  
"Hormones," she replied submissively.  
Gabriella stood up next to Mark and placed a comforting hand on his forearm. "Actually, Mark here is kind of part of what me and Tay were going to tell you. Niki and Toni aren't going to U of A next year, they're both moving to New York. And Mark and his boyfriend are going as well. The four of them are close friends and Mark has given the two of them a room in his parent's apartment in the city," she explained. The boy turned bashful as all eyes focussed onto him.  
"It's err, nice to meet you all," he said nervously offering a wavering hand to each of the women in front of him. The four were obviously impressed by his dapper character and manners. "Um, Mrs Bolton, Mrs Danforth it just occurred to me that parents said that they want to meet you and your husbands. Just to go over some details and get to know each other. Could I possibly get your numbers so my mom can contact you with dates and times and stuff?"  
"Sure honey," Taylor replied, scribbling her number and Gabriella's down on a spare napkin.  
He smiled gratefully and gestured back to the coffee station, "Thanks. I'd love to stay and get to know you a bit more now but duty calls," he joked, carrying the tray back with him to the coffee station.  
"Shame he's gay."  
"Shar!"  
"So New York?" Kelsi gushed, a slight longing in the back of her minds.  
Gabriella nodded and patted her knee, "He's going to Julliard Kels." She added gently. "His acceptance letter particularly mentioned the essay he wrote for his application. They said it was fabulous and beauty of the story behind it touched them deeply." Gabriella added gently talking in under tones so they couldn't be over heard. "He wrote it about you Kelsi."  
"What?" she said, a glisten starting to form in her eyes. "God, that boy of yours as been the heart warmer since he was born hasn't he?!" she joked, wiping her eyes gently.  
"You got him there Kelsi, in more ways than you think."  
"Come on, all I did was give him piano lessons for a few years. I haven't taught him since he was eleven." Kelsi insisted immediately.  
"But you started his enthusiasm!" Gabriella urged, sending her friend a gracious smile.  
Suddenly Martha's loud tone broke through the quiet chatter, "So if we're all sharing news, I've got something you might all be interested in." She had a grin on her face and her eyes flickered to her friends'. "Rajj and I are expecting!" she said softly. Exclamations of joy erupted and she felt herself being tackled into a hug from Kelsi. "We're a bit nervous considering I've never actually carried a baby before and I'm not exactly young. But we've wanted this for a while now and the doctor says everything's going fine down there."  
Gabriella gushed and laid a hand on Martha's knee, "Have you told Sunny yet?" she asked gently.  
Martha nodded slightly, "Last night. She's pretty excited about it herself."  
"Oh my god, we need to go baby shopping together," Sharpay insisted excitedly, and Martha probably would've replied with equal enthusiasm only she could see everybody shaking their heads. She then thought it through, if Sharpay on a normal shopping trip was anything to go by, perhaps baby shopping with her wasn't the best idea. "Well I have no news other than; Tom's doing well in LA. He's enjoying himself and will be back in a couple of weeks, unless they want to take him to Holland in the summer."  
"My news was Gabi's news," Taylor said dismissively, waving a hand over her face.  
"Well, I have some more. Rory came out two days ago. On top of the kitchen table." Gabriella whispered excitedly.  
"What?!" Kelsi cried out, her eyes growing in size. "Rod's gay?" she asked, as surprised tone to her voice.  
Gabriella nodded, "It was a bit of a shock at first, I mean he's never said or done anything that may have suggested that he was gay. Mind he's never done anything to suggest that he was straight either. But we love him regardless of who he loves."  
"Are you sure it wasn't Seb and you just got them mixed up?" Sharpay asked insistently. "I mean he's like a reincarnation on Ryan at that age."  
"Shar!" Gabriella exclaimed. "Could you guys just act just as you normally do around him, nothing's changed. Rory is still my little Einstein just like he was last week," the mother added, taking as sip from her coffee.  
The rest of the Sunday morning in the coffee place passed smoothly, just as normal. The conversation had turned less serious and the gossiping ensued. Just as Taylor release some unimportant rumour about the Principal that she'd heard from Chad, Mark strode out from behind the serving station now in pair of jeans and a green cable knit sweater. Although he still had a couple of specks of flour in his hair, the teenager looked particular dapper and brushed up with the glasses perched on his nose and shirt and tie beneath the jumper. Catching his gaze Gabriella ushered him over to their table and flashed him a smile as he neared. "It was very nice meeting you Mark, going anywhere?" She asked.  
The boy blushed slightly and looked towards his Oxfords, "Uh, meeting the other half actually. Promised to go with him to see the Pre-Raphaelite exhibition at the gallery before I have to go back to Hogwarts, as he so nicely puts it."  
"Oh Troy and I saw that a couple of weeks back, the first night Scott babysat actually. I hope you enjoy it," she said happily.  
"Me too!" He replied cheekily, showing off his perfectly white teeth with a grin. "I'll see you soon then?"  
"Sure, I'll make sure to call your mom and dad when I get home," Gabriella answered sweetly.  
"Fab. See you then, bye ladies," he added waving before turning to walk to the doors.  
Meanwhile Martha leaned over a whispered, rather loudly, to Sharpay, "You're right he does have a great butt!"  
Whipping around quickly, Mark flashed a smile similar to that minutes ago and slyly said, "My boyfriend thinks so too," before exiting the shop leaving all five women gob smacked.


End file.
